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160 Char text limit

A

adamman41

Well-Known Member
Is there a way to change it so that if I type more than 160 characters sent to a non verizon phone in a text message it all goes to the person instead of cutting off at 160. its quite annoying
 
Nope thats a limitation to the technology that carries SMS messages. You may be able to send an MMS which allows for longer messages or there may be an app for splitting messages but then it would be difficult for the app to know when its someone outside the network. I find it quite cool that the thing automatically sends MMSs to people on VZW. Kinda wish my Storm would do that.
 
I thought it did split up text messages to non-VZW phones when you exceeded 160 chars. That's what my last phone did I think so I assumed that it was universal through Verizon
 
I have noticed that sometimes it does split them and other times it doesn't. There is no way to remove the limit but you can type wayyy more in a MMS.
 
Verizon's auto-reply text message about messaging people on other networks getting only getting the first 160 characters is only half true.

They receive only the first 160 characters for that intial text message. However, additional text messages are sent to the recipient in 160 character increments until the entire message is sent. This is done automatically. It is not a feature of android, it is how the text messaging system works.

example:

160 characters or less = 1 text message
161 characters to 320 characters = 2 text messages
321 characters to 480 characters = 3 text messages
and so on.

So, there is no need to switch to sending MMS messages. Unless you're actually sending a pic or movie. Hope that helps.
 
Monochrome said:
Verizon's auto-reply text message about messaging people on other networks getting only getting the first 160 characters is only half true.

They receive only the first 160 characters for that intial text message. However, additional text messages are sent to the recipient in 160 character increments until the entire message is sent. This is done automatically. It is not a feature of android, it is how the text messaging system works.

example:

160 characters or less = 1 text message
161 characters to 320 characters = 2 text messages
321 characters to 480 characters = 3 text messages
and so on.

So, there is no need to switch to sending MMS messages. Unless you're actually sending a pic or movie. Hope that helps.
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so do you think this is a droid issue? everytime ive gone over 160, my friends have said it just cuts off and nothing else is sent
 
adamman41 said:
so do you think this is a droid issue? everytime ive gone over 160, my friends have said it just cuts off and nothing else is sent
Click to expand...

Droid issue? No. It's a system issue. Well, that and we don't have EMS which allows more then 160 characters.
 
adamman41 said:
so do you think this is a droid issue? everytime ive gone over 160, my friends have said it just cuts off and nothing else is sent
Click to expand...

Well, I have a Motorola Droid on Verizon(obviously), and my GF lives in Canada and is on Telus with a BB Pearl. I just sent her a text over 160 chars long to test this out, and she got the entire message broken up into 2 different text messages.

Not sure why this works, perhaps it has something to do with the recipients network as well?
 
Just sent a long text and this is what I got.

"FREE_VZW_MSG: Messages sent to non-VZW customers with graphics/tones/formatting and/or 160+ characters are sent as plain text with only the first 160 characters"
 
KoukiFC3S said:
Just sent a long text and this is what I got.

"FREE_VZW_MSG: Messages sent to non-VZW customers with graphics/tones/formatting and/or 160+ characters are sent as plain text with only the first 160 characters"
Click to expand...

Yes, I get that too. I got the same message on my old phone as well (also with Verizon). However, everyone I've ever sent a longer than 160 char text message to has gotten the entirety of the message broken up among more than 1 text message. This is why I'm assuming it might have something to do with which network the recipient is on as well.

And after looking into things a bit further, Telus is also a CDMA carrier. That might be part of the reason my longer texts were going through despite Verizon's warning.

Which network is your friend on that they only receive the first text?
 
Have no idea then. I have Handscent SMS on my Droid. But, as I said earlier, the messages were sent in their entirety even on my old phone, so I really don't think it is a Droid issue. More like a Verizon type thing.

If that's the case I geuss just sending MMS's are better for the longer essay like convo's. Or, just keep it short and simple :)
 
I use Handscent too, and it splits it em up just fine for me. Other phones I've used like the Moto Q and some LG's worked fine, but my sister is lookin at BB's and none of those send more than 160. BB's do have an app for that, but apparently its not OS 5 compatible yet.
 
I don't have my Droid yet (getting it tomorrow), so I'm just speculating here, but let's say everyone is right. Perhaps Verizon does split up SMS messages to non-VZW customers. I know they split them up for VZW customers, and I'm pretty sure this is a carrier thing, not a phone thing. Perhaps, also, Verizon converts MMS messages to a single SMS (160 chars. max) for non-VZW customers. The Droid apparently has a feature that converts 160+ character SMS messages into MMS messages (this is definitely a Droid thing, not a carrier thing). However, you can't send MMS messages to non-VZW phones, so Verizon converts it back to a SMS. Perhaps it is the conversion process from MMS back to SMS where you are actually getting cut off. If this is the case, then it seems that this could be overcome by turning off the option to convert long SMS messages to MMS... if you can turn it off.

Just my $0.02.
 
Has there been any more finding in the DROID 160-char limit arena? I was reading somewhere else that the phone may not support splitting up 160-char+ messages plus I noticed something to that effect on the released DROID documents talking about features and bugs.
 
Just wanted to add my experience to the mix: sending VZW to VZW, the 160+ character split does its job without any problems.

Sending VZW to Sprint, my friends only receive the first (160 char) part of my text.

However, you can't send MMS messages to non-VZW phones
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Are you sure about this? I was under the impression that as long as your phone and the recipient's phone has MMS capabilities then there should be no issues regardless of carrier.
 
This is weird my droid tells me that it has auto converted my txt message to mms if I go over 160. Does anyone droid do that? Mine says it everytime
 
chaoticzdh said:
This is weird my droid tells me that it has auto converted my txt message to mms if I go over 160. Does anyone droid do that? Mine says it everytime
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Yeah, mine does too. Doesn't really matter though for me at least, I tried sending one to my sister at ATT and it just tells me all she's gonna get is the first 160.
 
raphytaffy said:
Just wanted to add my experience to the mix: sending VZW to VZW, the 160+ character split does its job without any problems.

Sending VZW to Sprint, my friends only receive the first (160 char) part of my text.



Are you sure about this? I was under the impression that as long as your phone and the recipient's phone has MMS capabilities then there should be no issues regardless of carrier.
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I have sent pics to my sister with ATT, so that much I can do. But, with no pic in it, all she gets is the first 160 characters.
 
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