{"id":3115,"date":"2026-10-29T08:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T03:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/?post_type=docs&p=3115"},"modified":"2026-11-02T19:57:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T14:27:44","password":"","slug":"how-do-i-use-the-sms-length-calculator","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/kb\/how-do-i-use-the-sms-length-calculator\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I use the SMS Length Calculator?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The SMS Length Calculator tells you what a message will cost before you send it, and shows exactly which characters are driving that cost. Open it from Extra > SMS Length Calculator<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Paste or type your message into Original Text Message<\/strong>. If you use variables, type a realistic value in place of each one.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Read the Text Message Details<\/strong> panel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Look at the Detailed View of SMS Build-up<\/strong> to find any characters you didn’t intend.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What each value means<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    Field<\/th>Meaning<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    Length<\/strong><\/td>How many character slots the message uses. Extended characters and line breaks count as two.<\/td><\/tr>
    Cost<\/strong><\/td>How many SMS parts will be charged per recipient.<\/td><\/tr>
    Max Cost Length<\/strong><\/td>The highest length still allowed at that cost. Staying at or below it keeps the current price.<\/td><\/tr>
    Encoding<\/strong><\/td>GSM7<\/strong> (160 characters per message) or Unicode<\/strong> (70).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The colour breakdown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Green square<\/strong> \u2014 a normal GSM character.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Red square<\/strong> \u2014 a character that forces the message into Unicode.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      If the Encoding says Unicode and you didn’t intend it, find the red squares and replace them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      When to use it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Before registering a DLT template, so the approved text fits the length you’re paying for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • After pasting content from Word, Excel, email or a web page.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Whenever the cost of a campaign looks higher than expected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The SMS Length Calculator tells you what a message will cost before you send it, and shows exactly which characters are driving that cost. Open it from Extra > SMS Length Calculator. Using it What each value means Field Meaning Length How many character slots the message uses. Extended characters and line breaks count as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[2363],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-3115","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-message-length-encoding"],"year_month":"2026-11","word_count":206,"total_views":"6","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"admin","author_nicename":"admin","author_url":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Message Length & Encoding","term_url":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/kb-cat\/message-length-encoding\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=3115"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=3115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}