SMS Breakdown: Character Limits, Segments & Your Plan Usage
Wondering how you used so many messages?
This article will help explain why — and how message length, special characters, and carrier segmentation all affect your usage.
Talkroute allows you to send messages up to 1,000 characters, but SMS carriers break those long messages into smaller segments. Each segment counts as one message. This guide explains how message length and character type can impact your usage.
✂️ What Are Message Segments?
SMS messages are sent in segments, not as one large message. This means that if your message exceeds the segment limit, it's automatically broken into multiple messages behind the scenes—each counted individually
Two things affect how your message is split:
- The number of characters
- The type of characters (standard vs. special or emoji)
✍️ SMS Character Encoding & Segment Limits
| Character Type | Character Examples | Single Segment Limit | Multi-Segment Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (GSM-7) | Letters A–Z, numbers 0–9, symbols like ! @ # $ % & * ( ) - = + , . ? | 160 characters | 153 characters per part |
| Unicode (UCS-2) | Emojis (e.g. ✂️, 😊), accented letters (ã, ú), or uncommon symbols (¢, ™) | 70 characters | 67 characters per part |
Note: Even a single emoji can cause your message to be encoded as Unicode, greatly reducing the number of characters allowed per segment.
✉️ What Does a Segmented Message Look Like to the Recipient?
When you send a long message that gets broken into segments, most mobile carriers automatically reassemble the message on the recipient’s phone. This means the person receiving your message will typically see one continuous message, not a series of broken parts.
However, delivery depends on the recipient's carrier and device. In rare cases—especially with older phones or certain carriers—messages may arrive as separate texts, typically in this format:
(1/2) Thank you for contacting us! Your appointment is scheduled on Friday at 10am. Please arrive 15 minutes early and bring your confirmation number with you.
(2/2) Let us know if you need to reschedule. Thanks again!
This behavior is outside of Talkroute’s control, as it depends on the recipient’s mobile provider and messaging app. Regardless of how it appears, each segment still counts toward your monthly message usage.
📊 How This Impacts Your Message Limit
Each segment counts as 1 message toward your monthly usage.
For example, if you send a single 1000-character message:
- Using standard characters = ~7 messages
- Using emojis/special characters = up to 15 messages or more
This can add up quickly on plans with a monthly limit.
Only our Basic plan includes a 500 message segment limit per month (both incoming and outgoing messages combined). All other plans offer unlimited texting, subject to our reasonable use policy. Custom high-volume plans may have separate message thresholds.
📷 What About MMS?
Talkroute supports MMS messaging only for sending and receiving images.
We do not support other MMS features, such as group messaging or using MMS to send long text messages as a single message. Even if your message is lengthy, it will still be sent as segmented SMS and count as multiple messages toward your plan.
If you include an image, the message will be treated as MMS and may incur additional costs depending on your plan. However, text-only messages—no matter how long—will always be sent as SMS.
Unsupported MMS features include:
- Group messaging (e.g., reply-all style group chats)
- Sending long messages as a single MMS to avoid segmentation
- Audio, video, or other multimedia file attachments
💡 Tips for Reducing Message Count
- Keep messages under 160 characters when possible
- Avoid emojis and non-standard characters
- Split long messages into shorter, clear parts
Being aware of how segments work can help you better manage your usage and avoid running out of messages unexpectedly.
❓Still Have Questions❓
Whether you're already using Talkroute or just exploring, we're here to help.