# SMS (Short Message Service)

> SMS is the text-messaging standard built into every mobile network, carrying messages of up to 160 GSM-7 characters between phones and applications without an internet connection on the handset.

SMS is the text-messaging standard built into every mobile network. It was specified in the GSM standard in the 1980s and still works on every handset sold today, on 2G through 5G, without a data connection or an app. A message travels from the sender to a message centre (the [SMSC](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/smsc)) and from there to the recipient's network and phone.

One message holds 160 characters (153 per part when concatenated) in the default alphabet or 70 characters (67 per part when concatenated) in Unicode; longer texts are split and reassembled on the handset ([concatenation](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/concatenated-sms)). Because delivery does not depend on the recipient having an app installed or data enabled, SMS remains the channel with the widest reach for codes, alerts and notifications.

At SMSMeteor: every message is billed per [segment](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/segment) at one published rate per destination, from $0.0042, across 228 countries.

Related terms: [A2P SMS](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/a2p-sms), [SMS segment](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/segment), [SMSC](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/smsc), [Bulk SMS](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/bulk-sms)

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Source: https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/sms (HTML). Generated by SMSMeteor from the same data as the page. Summary of the whole site: https://smsmeteor.com/llms.txt