SMS Features & Information

General information and help articles on SMS, SMS Engage, and other SMS features.

• What is an SMS sender ID?

  The SMS sender ID is the display name that you see at the top of your phone’s screen when you open a SMS. The sender ID is sometimes referred as the brandname or originator. Sender ID is a reference of who a text is from. 

  Sender ID comes commonly in two forms either as numeric (numbers) or alphanumeric (up to 11 Characters*). Alphanumeric Sender IDs may be up to 11 characters* long. Accepted characters include both upper- and lower-case Ascii letters, the digits 0 through 9, and the space character. They may not be only numerals. Alphanumeric Sender ID is country specific and some destinations may not support Alphanumeric Sender ID.

   

  *Country dependent. If in doubt, please reach out to your account manager or email
  cpaas-support@8c8.com

   

• What is the difference between A2P and P2P messaging?

   

  A2P and P2P messaging are two different approaches to SMS messaging. 

   

  P2P, or Person-to-Person messaging, is when one mobile phone user sends a mobile message to another. This is typically seen in conversational messages sent between people. 

   

  A2P, or Application-to-Person messaging, is when mobile users receive messages from an application. This includes but limited to multi-factor authentication messages, notifications, reminders, and marketing messages.

   

  Different countries impose specific restrictions on A2P and P2P traffic. For example, P2P messages in the US and Canada should be sent via long codes, while A2P messages in APAC should be sent generally via short codes or Alphanumeric Sender IDs. 

  
  Learn more about country-specific guidelines here, reach out to your account manager. If you would like to know more about our product, please write in to cpaas-support@8x8.com. 

• What is the best file format to upload your contacts and other data?

  The best and safest format is a comma-separated value(.csv) file with a UTF-8 encoding.  Why? Because it will support different unicode characters such as a Chinese, Thai and other characters.

• How long is the shortened URL?

  The shortened URL is 23 characters long which includes the https:// hyper prefix.

• How is the URL-Shortener structured?

  By default, the URL is https://2g.to/ followed by three (3) alphanumeric characters and then another set of three (3) alphanumeric characters. E.g. https://2g.to/8yu/9yT.

• How does the URL Shortener works?

  Any URLs detected on your SMS will be shortened automatically when you send or submit your message.

• How does SMS Engage work?

  You send SMS to your customers. They will respond to that message by clicking on a link in the SMS. The link will redirect them to a mobile-optimised landing page. On this page, they will respond to any question, inquiry or survey by submitting their answers. You will be able to see your customers' responses on the customer portal under Analytics->SMS Engage, per campaign, down to the mobile numbers.

• What is the maximum length of an SMS? What is a concatenated message?

  SMS Length

  A standard SMS length has a limit of 160 characters. If you use unicode characters or UCS2 (e.g. for Thai, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese), it will decrease to 70 characters.
  
  

  Concatenated messages

  Every additional SMS after the first 160 characters (or 70 unicode characters) is referred to as a concatenated message part. 

   

  We advise that maximum number of concatenated message parts in a single text message is 10 parts. However, please take note that this is still subject to operator restrictions. 

   

  Additionally, do note that the maximum length per concatenated message part is slightly reduced due to the inclusion of concatenation headers:
  - 153 characters for ASCII
  - 66 characters for Unicode