A text message can contain a maximum of 160 characters, but why?
If you write a text message that sneaks up to 161 characters, the telecommunications company charges for two messages – even if the technology allows them to be pieced together at the sender as well as the recipient.
But why does the limit go at 160 characters?
According to the Los Angeles Times, the 'father' of the text message is a German named Friedhelm Hillebrand. He was part of the communications researchers who, in the mid-1980s, were to standardize a technology for text messages sent between mobile phones.
In 1985, Hillebrand sat down in front of his typewriter and began writing random questions and messages. The subsequent count showed that virtually all the letters filled less than 160 characters.
Postcards were a compelling argument
Two additional arguments convinced the group that Hillebrand had found the right limit. First of all, they found that postcards most often contained less than 150 characters.
Next, they analyzed a volume of messages sent through a then telegraph system for businessmen, called Telex. Although there were no technical limitations, the messages usually filled the same as the postcards.
As the 160-character limit had been adopted, all that was needed was to find an appropriate channel of communication for the messages. Hillebrand then came up with the idea of using the data channel, which, for example, is used to send information about the coverage.
Initially, there was only room for 128 characters, but after some technical adjustments, weighed the first text message – with 160 characters.
Today Hillebrand lives in Bonn, where he heads the consulting firm Hillebrand &Partners.
Can SMS2GO send more than 160 characters in a message.
YES - SMS2GO automatically merges messages over 160 characters. This means that, overall, the recipient only sees one message on his or her phone.
But the longer your message is, the more messages we need to merge. The telecommunications companies use 7 characters to merge a message. So that's why you sacrifice 7 characters every time 160 characters are counted in a message, so in reality there are "only" 153 characters to do well with per SMS.