Because it was longer than one SMS can hold and was split into parts. Each part is charged, even though the recipient sees a single joined-up message.
The split costs a few characters per part for the information phones need to rejoin them, which is why the parts after the first are slightly shorter.
GSM7 messages (plain English text) #
| Total characters | Parts charged |
|---|---|
| 1 – 160 | 1 |
| 161 – 306 | 2 |
| 307 – 459 | 3 |
| 460 – 612 | 4 |
The first part holds 160 characters; each part after that holds 153.
Unicode messages (Hindi, other scripts, emoji) #
| Total characters | Parts charged |
|---|---|
| 1 – 70 | 1 |
| 71 – 134 | 2 |
| 135 – 201 | 3 |
| 202 – 268 | 4 |
The first part holds 70 characters; each part after that holds 67.
How to keep the count down #
- Run the message through Extra > SMS Length Calculator and read the Cost and Max Cost Length values. Max Cost Length is how far you can go before the next part is charged.
- Trim to just under a boundary. Cutting a 165-character message to 160 halves its cost.
- Remove one emoji or curly quote and a message may drop from Unicode back to GSM7, raising the limit from 70 to 160.
- Shorten links and drop unnecessary line breaks, each of which costs two characters.
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