Introduction
To ensure optimum compatibility, Sendingly checks the different characters used against the technical constraints of an SMS and the recipients.
Number of SMS messages
Each group has a set number of SMS messages, by default this is 1. It will not be possible to exceed this size without changing the configuration.
Management of utf-8 - Special characters
UTF-8 is a method of character encoding. A UTF-8 character is encoded on 8 bits whereas an ASCII character requires only 4. Here is an example of UTF-8 characters: ç ê ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª " ¬ ®. An SMS including special characters will have a lower maximum number of characters than in the case where it does not.
Several cases are likely to occur:
- UTF-8 option activated, SMS content without special characters, limit is 160 characters;
- UTF-8 option enabled, SMS content with special characters, limit is 70 characters;
- UTF-8 option disabled, with special characters, characters are replaced by their equivalent, limit is 160 characters.
It is important to note that the content of the SMS takes precedence over the rest, i.e. if the UTF-8 option is enabled and the content does not contain special characters, then personalisation including special characters from the target will be replaced by an equivalent because the SMS content configuration (excluding personalisation) will be used to send the message. It is therefore important to test the rendering via the proof, particularly if the personalisation is present in the SMS.
Note: mobile operator Bouygues Telecom does not manage UTF8. In other words, even if the UTF8 option is activated and the content of the SMS contains special characters, messages received on a number from this operator will only correctly display characters from table IA5.
Special case: as the apostrophe character in a Word document is not a character in table IA5, it is replaced by the apostrophe character in table IA5.