Encoding and Concatenation
Concatenation
Concatenated messages (messages that are larger than one standard SMS) are billed by the total SMS messages contained within the concatenated SMS message content.
The number of characters per SMS message depends on what character set is used:
-
A standard GSM-03.38 text message is 160 characters long.
-
A standard UCS-2 text message (e.g. Unicode characters like Chinese or Arabic) is 70 characters long.
If the message is longer than these limits, it will concatenate and be sent as 2 (or more) messages, up to a maximum of 10 concatenated message units.
Your account usage is recorded and billed per message unit.
When concatenation occurs the first message reduces to 153 characters (GSM) or 67 characters (UCS-2), and the remaining characters roll into a second message (concatenation). The reason for the shortened length is the information contained within the UDH uses space within the SMS payload when concatenation occurs.
Notes:
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Some GSM 03.38 characters are excluded and cannot be sent. These are: ¤¡§|
-
Content must only be submitted as GSM 03.38 or UCS-2 (Unicode). ****
For more information on SMS character sets and SMS concatenation please visit:
Intelligent Character Encoding(I.C.E)
Intelligent Character Encoding(I.C.E) functionality, when enabled, automatically detects and reassigns ucs2 characters that can have compatibility issues with those similar from the GSM-7 character set. This helps to ensure a message is more compatible with a carrier’s preferred character set and helps to alleviate potential edge cases preventing message delivery.
Please reach out to your account manager or support team if you would like this functionality enabled on your application(s)
The following table lists the unicode and symbols with their matching replacement characters:
The word space represents a clear ’ ’ gsm-7 space character
| Name | Glyph | Unicode | Replacement |
|---|---|---|---|
| AcuteAccent | ´ | U+00B4 | ' |
| AsteriskOperator | ∗ | U+2217 | * |
| BalloonSpokedAsterisk | ❉ | U+2749 | * |
| BigReverseSolidus | ⧹ | U+29F9 | \ |
| BigSolidus | ⧸ | U+29F8 | / |
| Bullet | • | U+2022 | - |
| C1ControlCodes | � | U+0080 | Space |
| CircledAsteriskOperator | ⊛ | U+229B | * |
| CombiningCircumflexAccent | ◌̂ | U+0302 | ^ |
| CombiningCommaAbove | ◌̓ | U+0313 | ' |
| CombiningCommaBelow | ◌̦ | U+0326 | , |
| CombiningDoubleCircumflexAbove | ◌͡ | U+1DCD | ^ |
| CombiningEqualsSignBelow | ◌͇ | U+0347 | = |
| CombiningLongSolidusOverlay | ◌̸ | U+0338 | / |
| CombiningLongVerticalLineOverlay | ◌⃒ | U+20D2 | | |
| CombiningLowLine | ◌̲ | U+0332 | _ |
| CombiningReversedCommaAbove | ◌̔ | U+0314 | ' |
| CombiningReverseSolidusOverlay | ◌⃥ | U+20E5 | \ |
| CombiningShortSolidusOverlay | ◌̷ | U+0337 | / |
| CombiningShortVerticalLineOverlay | ◌⃓ | U+20D3 | | |
| CombiningTilde | ◌̃ | U+0303 | ~ |
| CombiningTildeBelow | ◌̰ | U+0330 | ~ |
| CombiningTildeOverlay | ◌̴ | U+0334 | ~ |
| Control | Ÿ | U+009F | Space |
| ControlSequenceIntroducer | › | U+009B | Space |
| DeviceControlFour | U+0014 | Space | |
| DeviceControlOne | U+0011 | Space | |
| DeviceControlString | | U+0090 | Space |
| DeviceControlThree | U+0013 | Space | |
| DeviceControlTwo | U+0012 | Space | |
| Divides | ∣ | U+2223 | | |
| DivisionSign | ÷ | U+00F7 | / |
| DivisionSlash | ∕ | U+2215 | / |
| DoubleExclamationMark | ‼ | U+203C | !! |
| DoubleHighReversed9QuotationMark | ‟ | U+201F | " |
| DoubleLowL\ine | ‗ | U+2017 | _ |
| DoubleLowQuotationMark | „ | U+201E | " |
| DoublePrimeQuotationMark | 〞 | U+301E | " |
| EightSpokedAsterisk | ✳ | U+2733 | * |
| EightTeardropSpokedPropellerAsterisk | ❊ | U+274A | * |
| EmDash | — | U+2014 | - |
| EnDash | – | U+2013 | - |
| EndOfMedium | U+0019 | Space | |
| EndOfText | U+0003 | Space | |
| EndOfTransmission | U+0004 | Space | |
| EndOfTransmissionBlock | U+0017 | Space | |
| Escape | U+0010 | Space | |
| FourBalloonSpokedAsterisk | ✣ | U+2723 | * |
| FourClubSpokedAsterisk | ✥ | U+2725 | * |
| FourTeardropSpokedAsterisk | ✢ | U+2722 | * |
| FractionSlash | ⁄ | U+2044 | / |
| FullwidthAmpersand | ＆ | U+FF06 | & |
| FullwidthApostrophe | ＇ | U+FF07 | ' |
| FullwidthAsterisk | ＊ | U+FF0A | * |
| FullwidthCircumflexAccent | ＾ | U+FF3E | ^ |
| FullwidthColon | ： | U+FF1A | : |
| FullwidthComma | ， | U+FF0C | , |
| FullwidthCommercialAtSign | ＠ | U+FF20 | @ |
| FullwidthDigitEight | ８ | U+FF18 | 8 |
| FullwidthDigitFive | ５ | U+FF15 | 5 |
| FullwidthDigitFour | ４ | U+FF14 | 4 |
| FullwidthDigitNine | ９ | U+FF19 | 9 |
| FullwidthDigitOne | １ | U+FF11 | 1 |
| FullwidthDigitSeven | ７ | U+FF17 | 7 |
| FullwidthDigitSix | ６ | U+FF16 | 6 |
| FullwidthDigitThree | ３ | U+FF13 | 3 |
| FullwidthDigitTwo | ２ | U+FF12 | 2 |
| FullwidthDigitZero | ０ | U+FF10 | 0 |
| FullwidthDollarSign | ＄ | U+FF04 | $ |
| FullwidthEqualsSign | ＝ | U+FF1D | = |
| FullwidthExclamationMark | ！ | U+FF01 | ! |
| FullwidthFullStop | ． | U+FF0E | . |
| FullwidthGreaterThanSign | ＞ | U+FF1E | > |
| FullwidthHyphenMinus | － | U+FF0D | - |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterA | Ａ | U+FF21 | A |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterB | Ｂ | U+FF22 | B |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterC | Ｃ | U+FF23 | C |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterD | Ｄ | U+FF24 | D |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterE | Ｅ | U+FF25 | E |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterF | Ｆ | U+FF26 | F |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterG | Ｇ | U+FF27 | G |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterH | Ｈ | U+FF28 | H |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterI | Ｉ | U+FF29 | I |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterJ | Ｊ | U+FF2A | J |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterK | Ｋ | U+FF2B | K |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterL | Ｌ | U+FF2C | L |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterM | Ｍ | U+FF2D | M |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterN | Ｎ | U+FF2E | N |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterO | Ｏ | U+FF2F | O |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterP | Ｐ | U+FF30 | P |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterQ | Ｑ | U+FF31 | Q |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterR | Ｒ | U+FF32 | R |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterS | Ｓ | U+FF33 | S |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterT | Ｔ | U+FF34 | T |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterU | Ｕ | U+FF35 | U |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterV | Ｖ | U+FF36 | V |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterW | Ｗ | U+FF37 | W |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterX | Ｘ | U+FF38 | X |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterY | Ｙ | U+FF39 | Y |
| FullwidthLatinCapitalLetterZ | Ｚ | U+FF3A | Z |
| FullwidthLeftCurlyBracket | ｛ | U+FF5B | { |
| FullwidthLeftParenthesis | （ | U+FF08 | ( |
| FullwidthLeftSquareBracket | ［ | U+FF3B | [ |
| FullwidthLessThanSign | ＜ | U+FF1C | < |
| FullwidthLowLine | ＿ | U+FF3F | _ |
| FullwidthNumberSign | ＃ | U+FF03 | # |
| FullwidthPercentSign | ％ | U+FF05 | % |
| FullwidthPlusSign | ＋ | U+FF0B | + |
| FullwidthQuestionMark | ？ | U+FF1F | ? |
| FullwidthQuotationMark | ＂ | U+FF02 | " |
| FullwidthReverseSolidus | ＼ | U+FF3C | \ |
| FullwidthRightCurlyBracket | ｝ | U+FF5D | } |
| FullwidthRightParenthesis | ） | U+FF09 | ) |
| FullwidthRightSquareBracket | ］ | U+FF3D | ] |
| FullwidthSemicolon | ； | U+FF1B | ; |
| FullwidthSolidus | ／ | U+FF0F | / |
| FullwidthTilde | ～ | U+FF5E | ~ |
| FullwidthVerticalLine | ｜ | U+FF5C | | |
| GraveAccent | ` | U+0060 | ' |
| HalfwidthIdeographicComma | ､ | U+FF64 | , |
| HalfwidthIdeographicFullStop | ｡ | U+FF61 | . |
| HeavyAsterisk | ✱ | U+2731 | * |
| HeavyDoubleCommaQuotationMarkOrnament | ❞ | U+275E | " |
| HeavyDoubleTurnedCommaQuotationMarkOrnament | ❝ | U+275D | " |
| HeavyEightTeardropSpokedPropellerAsterisk | ❋ | U+274B | * |
| HeavyFourBalloonSpokedAsterisk | ✤ | U+2724 | * |
| HeavySingleCommaQuotationMarkOrnament | ❜ | U+275C | ' |
| HeavySingleTurnedCommaQuotationMarkOrnament | ❛ | U+275B | ' |
| HeavyTeardropSpokedAsterisk | ✽ | U+273D | * |
| HeavyTeardropSpokedPinwheelAsterisk | ❃ | U+2743 | * |
| HorizontalBar | ― | U+2015 | - |
| HorizontalEllipsis | … | U+2026 | … |
| HorizontalScanLine7 | ⎼ | U+23BC | - |
| HorizontalScanLine9 | ⎽ | U+23BD | - |
| Hyphen | ‐ | U+2010 | - |
| HyphenBullet | ⁃ | U+2043 | - |
| IdeographicComma | 、 | U+3001 | , |
| IdeographicFullStop | 。 | U+3002 | . |
| IdeographicSpace | U+3000 | Space | |
| LatinLetterRetroflexClick | ǃ | U+01C3 | ! |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalA | ᴀ | U+1D00 | A |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalB | ʙ | U+0299 | B |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalC | ᴄ | U+1D04 | C |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalD | ᴅ | U+1D05 | D |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalE | ᴇ | U+1D07 | E |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalF | ꜰ | U+A730 | F |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalG | ɢ | U+0262 | G |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalH | ʜ | U+029C | H |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalI | ɪ | U+026A | I |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalJ | ᴊ | U+1D0A | J |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalK | ᴋ | U+1D0B | K |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalL | ʟ | U+029F | L |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalM | ᴍ | U+1D0D | M |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalN | ɴ | U+0274 | N |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalO | ᴏ | U+1D0F | O |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalP | ᴘ | U+1D18 | P |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalR | ʀ | U+0280 | R |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalS | ꜱ | U+A731 | S |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalT | ᴛ | U+1D1B | T |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalU | ᴜ | U+1D1C | U |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalV | ᴠ | U+1D20 | V |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalW | ᴡ | U+1D21 | W |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalY | ʏ | U+028F | Y |
| LatinLetterSmallCapitalZ | ᴢ | U+1D22 | Z |
| LeftDoubleQuotationMark | “ | U+201C | " |
| LeftParenthesisExtension | ⎜ | U+239C | | |
| LeftPointingDoubleAngleQuotationMark | « | U+00AB | " |
| LeftSingleQuotationMark | ‘ | U+2018 | ' |
| LeftVerticalBoxLine | ⎸ | U+23B8 | | |
| LeftWhiteParenthesis | ⦅ | U+2985 | ( |
| LowAsterisk | ⁎ | U+204E | * |
| MathematicalLeftFlattenedParenthesis | ⟮ | U+27EE | ( |
| MathematicalRightFlattenedParenthesis | ⟯ | U+27EF | ) |
| MediumFlattenedLeftParenthesisOrnament | ❪ | U+276A | ( |
| MediumFlattenedRightParenthesisOrnament | ❫ | U+276B | ) |
| MediumLeftCurlyBracketOrnament | ❴ | U+2774 | { |
| MediumLeftParenthesisOrnament | ❨ | U+2768 | ( |
| MediumMathematicalSpace | U+205F | Space | |
| MediumRightCurlyBracketOrnament | ❵ | U+2775 | } |
| MediumRightParenthesisOrnament | ❩ | U+2769 | ) |
| ModifierLetterAcuteAccent | ˊ | U+02CA | ' |
| ModifierLetterApostrophe | ʼ | U+02BC | ' |
| ModifierLetterCircumflexAccent | ˆ | U+02C6 | ^ |
| ModifierLetterColon | ꞉ | U+A789 | : |
| ModifierLetterDoubleApostrophe | ˮ | U+02EE | " |
| ModifierLetterDoublePrime | ʺ | U+02BA | " |
| ModifierLetterGraveAccent | ˋ | U+02CB | ' |
| ModifierLetterLowTilde | ˷ | U+02F7 | ~ |
| ModifierLetterPlusSign | ˖ | U+02D6 | + |
| ModifierLetterPrime | ʹ | U+02B9 | ' |
| ModifierLetterRaisedColon | ˸ | U+02F8 | : |
| ModifierLetterReversedComma | ʽ | U+02BD | ' |
| ModifierLetterShortEqualsSign | ꞊ | U+A78A | = |
| ModifierLetterTriangularColon | ː | U+02D0 | : |
| ModifierLetterTurnedComma | ʻ | U+02BB | ' |
| ModifierLetterVerticalLine | ˈ | U+02C8 | ' |
| NarrowNoBreakSpace | U+202F | Space | |
| NoBreakSpace | U+00A0 | ' | |
| Null | � | U+0000 | Space |
| OpenCentreAsterisk | ✲ | U+2732 | * |
| OpenCentreTeardropSpokedAsterisk | ✼ | U+273C | * |
| PresentationFormForVerticalColon | ︓ | U+FE13 | : |
| PresentationFormForVerticalComma | ︐ | U+FE10 | ' |
| PresentationFormForVerticalExclamationMark | ︕ | U+FE15 | ! |
| PresentationFormForVerticalIdeographicComma | ︑ | U+FE11 | ' |
| PresentationFormForVerticalQuestionMark | ︖ | U+FE16 | ? |
| PresentationFormForVerticalSemicolon | ︔ | U+FE14 | ; |
| ReversedDoublePrimeQuotationMark | 〝 | U+301D | " |
| ReversedSemicolon | ⁏ | U+204F | ; |
| ReverseLineFeed | | U+008D | Space |
| ReverseSolidusOperator | ⧵ | U+29F5 | \ |
| RightDoubleQuotationMark | ” | U+201D | " |
| RightParenthesisExtension | ⎟ | U+239F | | |
| RightPointingDoubleAngleQuotationMark | » | U+00BB | " |
| RightSingleQuotationMark | ’ | U+2019 | ' |
| RightVerticalBoxLine | ⎹ | U+23B9 | | |
| RightWhiteParenthesis | ⦆ | U+2986 | ) |
| SingleHighReversedQuotationMark | ‛ | U+201B | ' |
| SingleLeftPointingAngleQuotationMark | ‹ | U+2039 | > |
| SingleLowQuotationMark | ‚ | U+201A | ' |
| SingleRightPointingAngleQuotationMark | › | U+203A | < |
| SixteenPointedAsterisk | ✺ | U+273A | * |
| SmallAmpersand | ﹠ | U+FE60 | & |
| SmallAsterisk | ﹡ | U+FE61 | * |
| SmallComma | ﹐ | U+FE50 | , |
| SmallCommercialAtSign | ﹫ | U+FE6B | @ |
| SmallDollarSign | ﹩ | U+FE69 | $ |
| SmallEqualsSign | ﹦ | U+FE66 | = |
| SmallExclamationMark | ﹗ | U+FE57 | ! |
| SmallFullStop | ﹒ | U+FE52 | . |
| SmallGreaterThanSign | ﹥ | U+FE65 | > |
| SmallHyphenMinus | ﹣ | U+FE63 | - |
| SmallIdeographicComma | ﹑ | U+FE51 | , |
| SmallLeftCurlyBracket | ﹛ | U+FE5B | { |
| SmallLeftParenthesis | ﹙ | U+FE59 | ( |
| SmallLessThanSign | ﹤ | U+FE64 | < |
| SmallNumberSign | ﹟ | U+FE5F | # |
| SmallPercentSign | ﹪ | U+FE6A | % |
| SmallPlusSign | ﹢ | U+FE62 | + |
| SmallQuestionMark | ﹖ | U+FE56 | ? |
| SmallReverseSolidus | ﹨ | U+FE68 | \ |
| SmallRightCurlyBracket | ﹜ | U+FE5C | } |
| SmallRightParenthesis | ﹚ | U+FE5A | ) |
| SmallSemicolon | ﹔ | U+FE54 | ; |
| SmallTilde | ˜ | U+02DC | ~ |
| SquaredAsterisk | ⧆ | U+29C6 | * |
| Tab | U+0009 | Space | |
| TeardropSpokedAsterisk | ✻ | U+273B | * |
| TildeOperator | ∼ | U+223C | ~ |
| VerticalLineExtension | ⏐ | U+23D0 | | |
| VulgarFractionOneHalf | ½ | U+00BD | 1/2 |
| VulgarFractionOneQuarter | ¼ | U+00BC | 1/4 |
| VulgarFractionThreeQuarters | ¾ | U+00BE | 3/4 |
| WhitespaceEmSpace | U+2003 | Space | |
| WhitespaceEnQuad | U+2000 | ' | |
| WhitespaceEnSpace | U+2002 | Space | |
| WhitespaceFigureSpace | U+2007 | Space | |
| WhitespaceFourPerEmSpace | U+2005 | Space | |
| WhitespaceHairSpace | U+200A | Space | |
| WhitespaceLineSeparator | U+2028 | Space | |
| WhitespaceMediumMathematicalSpace | U+2001 | Space | |
| WhitespaceParagraphSeparator | U+2029 | Space | |
| WhitespacePunctuationSpace | U+2008 | Space | |
| WhitespaceSixPerEmSpace | U+2006 | Space | |
| WhitespaceThinSpace | U+2009 | Space | |
| WhitespaceThreePerEmSpace | U+2004 | Space | |
| WordJoiner | | U+2060 | Space |
| ZeroWidthNoBreakSpace | U+FEFF | Space | |
| ZeroWidthSpace | | U+200B | Space |
| ZNotationTypeColon | ⦂ | U+2982 | : |
