Knowledge Base

Your messages may exceed the standard 160-character limit for SMS. In such cases, the BestSMS allows you to send longer messages by dividing them into multiple parts, each charged separately.

Understanding Message Parts and Charges:

• New accounts are initially limited to a maximum of three message parts (459 GSM characters).
• Each SMS part incurs a separate charge.
• The number of characters per SMS part varies depending on whether normal or special characters are used.

Increasing Maximum Allowed SMS Parts:

To send longer messages, follow these steps to adjust your account settings:

1. Log into the Web Dashboard at https://my.bestsms.au.
2. Select [Users] from the menu.
3. Click on the user you want to update.
4. Click the [Edit/Modify] button.
5. Select the [SMS] tab.
6. Adjust the [SMS Parts Length] to match the number of allowed message parts.
7. Click the [Update] button.
8. Repeat these steps for other users that require updating.

Character Count and Message Parts:

• Using 'normal' SMS characters allows 160 characters for the first SMS part, then 153 characters per SMS part thereafter.
• The number of message parts and total charge for the message are determined by the character count as follows:

Special Characters and Unicode UCS-2 Encoding:

• Some characters require special encoding (UCS-2) and reduce SMS parts to 67 characters.
• Common examples include emojis, curly quotes, curly apostrophes, and language characters.
• When using special characters, the character count and message parts are as follows:

Additional Resources:

• Refer to the GSM 03.38 specifications for a full list of standard GSM characters.

By understanding how message parts are calculated and charged, you can effectively send longer SMS messages using the Dashboard.