[apple007]

I like iPhone's text-messaging client a lot and especially like that I can type very long messages. However, I know a lot of cell phones have a size (character) limit for incoming text messages. Thus, my question: Do outgoing text messages from an iPhone, whose size exceeds the recipient's character limit, get split into multiple incoming messages on the recipient's end, or does the "extra" text get lost in transmission? Thanks.

[kieran]

I would assume that it gets split into two different messages.

I used to send some long ones on my RAZR and that's what would happen, I'm assuming that the same thing would happen on the iPhone.

I think it's a network thing, not necessarily a phone thing.

[torifile]

It's not a cell phone specific thing. The SMS implementation is only for 160 characters per message. The iPhone knows this and will likely spilt the outgoing message up before it's sent.

[scratt]

I kind of thought the last time I did a long text message the iPhone stopped taking input at a certain point, which I presumed was when I hit that magic character count. But I have not actually experimented so could be wrong.

In any case the splitting is handled by the network to some degree, and how each network handles that is different.

For example, when I am roaming in some countries in Asia I would say only 3 out of 4 text messages get through, although magically you still get billed for them.

Also, in the past when texting from my treo and sending 'multi-text' messages as one message quite often the recipient would only get the last, or the first section.

Typically it depends on how advanced the country you are in is.. i.e. In Singapore a lot of the messages get to their destination, and long ones get split into more than one message.. But from Indonesia you are lucky if even one message gets out complete.

This is something I find particularly annoying about text messages, which are overpriced, and badly implemented by all but the best mobile networks.. And on those 'best' mobile networks you are paying through the nose because they are in countries like the UK, Spain etc.

[apple007]

Thanks for the replies.

Originally Posted by torifile It's not a cell phone specific thing. The SMS implementation is only for 160 characters per message. The iPhone knows this and will likely spilt the outgoing message up before it's sent.

That's what I had thought, but then iPhone came along and has no (visibly-discernible) outgoing/incoming character limit *and* doesn't bother to display the character count for messages being typed, so I started to think it was cell phone-specific.

Originally Posted by scratt I kind of thought the last time I did a long text message the iPhone stopped taking input at a certain point, which I presumed was when I hit that magic character count. But I have not actually experimented so could be wrong. ...

I've typed some outgoing messages that were well into the 200s and possibly even 300-plus characters without any sort of feedback from the iPhone that a limit has been reached.

As much as I like the seamless implementation (i.e., can type as much as I want in one outgoing message and incoming messages are (apparently) merged into a single "balloon"), I wish there was a character-counter for outgoing messages. If SMS is indeed limited to 160 characters per message, I'd hate to be sending out any 162-character messages, which (a) means I'm getting billed for two messages and (b) likely annoying the hell out of recipients who get a "part 2" text message with perhaps two characters in it, and get billed a full message for the privilege.

... This is something I find particularly annoying about text messages, which are overpriced, and badly implemented by all but the best mobile networks.. And on those 'best' mobile networks you are paying through the nose because they are in countries like the UK, Spain etc.

I avoided sending txt msgs like the plague pre-iPhone, but iPhone's implementation is so good I've started sending more. That said, I still dislike the platform, and agree 100% that the service is over-priced and underwhelming in almost every implementation.

[scratt]

Originally Posted by apple007 I avoided sending txt msgs like the plague pre-iPhone, but iPhone's implementation is so good I've started sending more. That said, I still dislike the platform, and agree 100% that the service is over-priced and underwhelming in almost every implementation.

What's funny is that we all still send them..
On my package in Thailand I can talk to someone for 5 minutes for 1 Baht. It costs me 3 - 5 Baht to send a text message, and yet I still prefer to send a text message!

The phone companies know that we like this form of disconnected communication I guess, and as such keep billing us for it. In the UK text message usage by kids means that often their Pay-as-you-Go bills are higher than a lot of business packages once they add up all their receipts!

Virtually everyone I know is on skype these days, which is why I am praying and hoping for a native skype chat client on the iPhone as soon as possible.

[cosus]

Wold skype even work well on edge?

[rasmits]

Actually, I think some phones will combine multi-page text messages into one long message. I'm pretty sure all of my most recent phones have done that.

[scratt]

Originally Posted by cosus Wold skype even work well on edge?

I don't care about voice, and would perhaps only use it when at a good WiFi point.
What I want is the chat capability. I'd just keep chats going with people all day long as I walk around, much like I do at my desk these days.. Awesome.

As soon as the SDK is out it's a lock we'll have skype on the iPhone. I just want it NOW NOW NOW!

[ghoti]

Any reasonably recent phone will be able to piece together a multi-part text message correctly, even with the messages arriving out of order, etc. It takes a really old phone or a crappy network (that messes with the message format) to break that.

Skype works fine with 3G, even with voice (though only when there is good reception). For chatting, there is an iPhone-friendly web service that's called s4iphone.com. The problem is you can't stay logged in and have it alert you when new messages come in while the phone is off/sleeping, but it's a start. Skype on the iPhone is bound to happen once the SDK is released, at least for text chat.

[King Kovifor]

I am under the impression that my phone, since if I send more than 160 it says that people outside of my network will only get the first 160 characters... But never actually tried. I know from a trac phone they are split up... I hate when I don't get them all at once. lol.