[flea620]

Why exactly don't blackberrys support EMS texting? They can do so much but they can't send a text of over 160 characters? I find it very odd and sometimes frustrating. so why?

[thinkamp]

I don't have a clue...I know verizon doesn't let the message continue onto a new message with other carriers they do.
Its just crapy.

[alb123]

I tend to be verbose in my messages from time to time ;-) . And rather then hit the 160 character limit, which is SO easy to do in even the most to-the-point txts, I just find myself using MMS instead even when there is no intention to attach media. The delay is fairly insignificant and I also like the ability to add a "Title" to the message which makes sorting thru a day's messages all that much easier.

Chris

[flea620]

See I don't like using MMS, because it's annoying to the people i send them too and also some people get confused by it too. idk how many times i've heard "why did you send me a pix message?"

also, idk how long my text will end up being. so i can't just use them for the long ones.

[CreaseKeeper28]

I don't have a clue...I know verizon doesn't let the message continue onto a new message with other carriers they do.
Its just crapy.

That's not entirely true. Maybe w/ the BB's. But pre-BB for me...all my phones had the ability to go past 160 char. It just said that it was 2/2, 3/3...i think i could go up to 5 on the last phone i had. usually when you sent it though....it came back with a notice that if it wasn't a "verizon" subscriber, they may receive the text as 2 or 3 messages....

i've experienced these messages from other people too...where it came as 2 or 3 or more messages....

i wish this carried over to the BB world, but when i have to send one longer, i just flip over to MMS....usually if i'm typing and i hit the 160, i copy, discard, open MMS, and paste and continue.........

works for me

[siha]

I have AT&T and can type out messages as long as I want and it will send it in multiple messages and I've received long messages as multiple messages...I think it's a Verizon thing, I've heard their customers talk about this being an issue on non-BB's as well

[majikmonkie]

I think the 160 Characters limit is because of the way it's encoded and sent.

EDIT: Found this on wiki Short message service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Message size

Transmission of short messages between the SMSC and the handset is done using the Mobile Application Part (MAP) of the SS7 protocol. Messages are sent with the MAP mo- and mt-ForwardSM operations, whose payload length is limited by the constraints of the signalling protocol to precisely 140 octets (140 octets = 140 * 8 bits = 1120 bits). Short messages can be encoded using a variety of alphabets: the default GSM 7-bit alphabet (shown above), the 8-bit data alphabet, and the 16-bit UTF-16/UCS-2 alphabet.[26] Depending on which alphabet the subscriber has configured in the handset, this leads to the maximum individual Short Message sizes of 160 7-bit characters, 140 8-bit characters, or 70 16-bit characters (including spaces). Support of the GSM 7-bit alphabet is mandatory for GSM handsets and network elements,[26] but characters in languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Cyrillic alphabet languages (e.g. Russian) must be encoded using the 16-bit UCS-2 character encoding (see Unicode). Routing data and other metadata is additional to the payload size.

Larger content (Concatenated SMS, multipart or segmented SMS or "long sms") can be sent using multiple messages, in which case each message will start with a user data header (UDH) containing segmentation information. Since UDH is inside the payload, the number of characters per segment is lower: 153 for 7-bit encoding, 134 for 8-bit encoding and 67 for 16-bit encoding. The receiving handset is then responsible for reassembling the message and presenting it to the user as one long message. While the standard theoretically permits up to 255 segments,[27] 6 to 8 segment messages are the practical maximum, and long messages are often billed as equivalent to multiple SMS messages. See Concatenated SMS for more information.

So that's why it's limited. If you want longer textx you're going to have to convince your provider to use a different technology. Good luck with that!

[dervari]

SMS = Short Message Service

[FuturaxLabs]

I tend to run out of room also when im having full convos by text. I never really use MMS unless im sending pix but maybe now ill give it a shot, thanx for the info. But every other smartphones i have owned had the same restriction so i dont think its just a Blackberry thing.

[editionfws]

use email. :-) make your friends get a bb and use email or bbm :-)

[wolo]

Yea that always bothered me as well, you send the message and it comes in 2 parts, then they reply to the first part not knowing the 2nd part lol.

[Fire-Detention]

you need to try the blackberry Messenger you can IM and not be limited in your menu key goto instant message if you have the other persons pin type it in and go beyond 160 and have lots of fun. you can leave the conversation open and pick it up days later. you can also have a Conference and invite other people to the conversation.

[TheSultan]

It's funny that irritated me when I first got a Verizon flip years back. Now I've learned how to be precise in my language so it's short.

[SevereDeceit]

It's funny that irritated me when I first got a Verizon flip years back. Now I've learned how to be precise in my language so it's short.

I'm pretty much the same way, i send way more emails and IM's than i do SMS's though...