Database Users

Extending length of SMS on Touch

Hi everyone,
On my Razr I could extend the number of characters allowed for an SMS message from 140 to something like 300 using a firmware hack. Apparently if it is too long Bell’s network splits it up into two messages. Anyway, I would imagine doing something like this on a WM device should be easier? Or not?
Is there a registry setting we can use to give us a little more space when typing out SMS’s?

I can almost swear I found this in the registry back when I had a Wizard but I can't remember where. Damn those hundreds of registry entries...
If I find the same entry on my Sprint Touch I'll let you know.

thefish123 said:
On my Razr I could extend the number of characters allowed for an SMS message from 140 to something like 300 using a firmware hack. Apparently if it is too long Bell’s network splits it up into two messages. ...
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I'd be surprised if this worked generically, though it might work for a few circumstances. SMSs are fixed at 160 by convention and it would require cooperation of *every* relay in the chain to get an increase, not just at the sender's client end. I know that from my testing, Sprint pretty much obeys the 160 char rule and doesn't seem to pass anything beyond 160. Perhaps Bell does, but you'd also need the cooperation of the other carrier, any 3rd party services in between (most inter-carrier SMS relays are handled by a 3rd party), and also the recipient's device.

sprint told me sms were supposed to be 500 characters when i signed up, yea i believed them, haha

On most other Bell phones I think the limit is 160 (on the Touch it's 140). Perhaps that is because the Touch lets you enter a “subject” line? At any rate is it possible to extend it and then I can experiment with how long a message I can send.

So you just want it to allow you to type a message more then 160 characters? For instance if you go over that it will allow you to continue to type but when you send it then it will break it up into however many messages that it needs too? Or are you trying to send a message in on txt that is longer then 160?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service#Message_Size

Rudegar said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service#Message_Size
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Thats all fine and good but that doesn't answer the question. Sorry if that comes off a little rude(not intended offensively). That merely explains the concept of SMS and how it can be 70-160 characters depending on bits. It is also for the GSM service whereas we have CDMA devices.
Thanks for trying though.

dharvey4651 said:
Thats all fine and good but that doesn't answer the question. Sorry if that comes off a little rude(not intended offensively). That merely explains the concept of SMS and how it can be 70-160 characters depending on bits. It is also for the GSM service whereas we have CDMA devices.
Thanks for trying though.
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Well, like it or not, that material is extremely relevant, because the priorities are interoperability and economy of transmission. Sprint originally *tried* to go on its own with its Shortmail service, which allowed 1000 chars, but it fell down on precisely those two issues: the long messages would only work within the Shortmail system and obviously could not work across other carriers, and its implementation was not "lightweight", but relied on the Internet and dedicated website -- not economical at all. Obviously in the end, Sprint folded up and joined the rest of the world in supporting standard SMS specs. The great part about SMS is that it uses so little resources and therefore can co-exist with voice channels and doesn't require a "heavyweight" data channel (of course that means transporting SMSs cost carriers next to nothing to provide and yet carriers can charge $$$ for SMS)...

Previously on any GSM phone I've had, txt msgs were 160 characters (if longer it would span to multiple messages). Now that I've moved to Bell (CDMA), the Touch only allows 140 before spanning. If you type an accented character by mistake (such as with the accented a character always popping up), it doesn't tell you, but the message gets clipped down to 70 characters (and spanned across multiple). I suspect these missing 20 characters are related to some sort of character-set identification, specifying the bit-count of the characters you're using. When you use an accented character, you get 16-bit characters, resulting in even less.
Long story short, there should be some way to get 160 character messages, as that's the "standard" for most providers. Whether its possible on our phones is another question. Also, has anyone else noticed that our phone won't join multi-sms messages back into a single message? If someone sends me a message of 200 characters, I literally get 2 seperate messages, whereas on my previous GSM Atom, it went and joined it back into one...

Goodge said:
Also, has anyone else noticed that our phone won't join multi-sms messages back into a single message? If someone sends me a message of 200 characters, I literally get 2 seperate messages, whereas on my previous GSM Atom, it went and joined it back into one...
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I have noticed that I am now getting multiple messages from the same person and they obviously look like one long message broken up. I don’t know if my Razr (my previous phone) used to reassemble them or if I just never received such long text messages before but in any case I have only noticed it since getting the Touch.
If the network automatically splits up long text messages and most phones reassemble the message back into one then what would be the problem with allowing the Touch/Vogue, or any phone for that matter, to send messages of 160, 200, 300 whatever length? Especially if this is as light on network resources as they?
Can anyone confirm the 140 vs. 160 character limit due to the subject line present in the Touch? It might seem like a small difference but that extra 20 characters can really come in handy!! Percentage wise it’s a pretty big difference.

Text Messaging Over Internet

I have unlimited internet for my HTC Vogue, but no free text messaging. Does anyone know of a program that lets you send text messages over the internet instead of as a text message? I know there are websites that do this, but they're kinda annoying to use. I'm on Bell too if thats important.

Buy a $5 text messaging package But seriously it’s probably going to be a bigger pain to jump through those kinds of hoops then it’s worth. What if someone text messages you? It will come in as a regular text message, it will not get routed through the Internet even if you send your original txt through some website or via some special software.
I use OctroTalk as my XMPP client (jabber/Google Talk) to get connected to Google Talk.

You can use AIM. I'm not sure if it sends SMS to out of the US though, but if they are in the US just do +1(number)

It may be possible, but I haven't seen this. SMS is huge these days, so I'm sure carriers try to prevent this from happening since they probably make a good deal of money with these text packages.
I do know however, that when I used to use the VZAccess Manager to tether my phone, I could sends SMS. I didn't have a text plan, since it was just a USB modem, turns out the text would take away from my allowed data usage of 5GB. I kept asking the rep how it was possible, but of course she had no idea.
Either way, just spend the small amount of money for the text, I'm sure you get a bunch for about $5.

TheChampJT said:
SMS is huge these days
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SMS is really very useful. It’s like IM everywhere all the time. The new ROM from Bell Mobility for the Vogue has threaded SMS which makes it just like having an IM app.
I also have various RAID arrays and environmental monitors (temp, humidity, etc) in server rooms across the GTA that will SMS me when something goes wrong. It’s such a great way for me to add value to the services I offer my customers. I can walk in their front door because something is wrong before they even know there is a problem.
The Fish

Text messaging over the Internet is trivial. All you have to do is send an email to the carrier's EMAIL/SMS gateway. The tricky thing of course is that you need to know the carrier of the recipient and the carrier's gateway. There are lists of these things on the Internet. For example, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateway
Just a few are:
Verizon: [email protected]
Sprint: [email protected]
Tmobile: [email protected]
AT&T/Cingular: [email protected]
Using any decent email client to send the email. Limit the entire text to 160 characters. The other issue is what you put down as a reply address, your email address or your phone's address (which is just like that listed above). That would depend on whether you *really* don't want to RECEIVE replies by SMS either.
If you don't know the recipient's carrier, you can try the service TELEFLIP.COM. Send the textmsg email to:
[email protected]
and it will figure out the carrier for you. It mostly works, but isn't 100%.
Oh, and there are also analogous carrier email gateways for MMS (picture msgs). They are also listed in the link above. For example, for Sprint, send the email with the pic attached to:
[email protected]

awesome, thanks.
that's exactly what I was hoping for.
I know it's only $5, but I'm pretty cheap

sms to mms...

Seriously, this is getting beyond a joke. I thought this problem was solved back with the G1...
I can't believe that after all of this time there is no option to disable auto-mms conversion.
And before anyone comments: I have looked through google; It is NOT a problem with my network, or violation of any other UK network; I have sent much more than 3 or even 10 stringed sms's on winmo and iPhone OS. It is 100% Android, and I would like a fix without installing a new messaging client (nothing supports the N1's resolution).
To be honest, I wouldn't mind disabling outgoing mms since it's completely obsolete; I email something if I want to send a picture and I thought Android was made to promote data usage, not prehistoric phone methods.
If it's what it takes, I would disable it altogether.
On the odd occasion (like once or twice a year), I may receive an mms, but I have never, in my entire life sent an mms. What is Google's problem? Do they live in the 90's?

Have you tried removed the MMS setting from your APN in the settings?

Sounds like an advantage to me.. Nokias do that too if you type a message too long for SMS. What's the problem? Your message arrives at the other end correctly.

stewart1988 said:
Have you tried removed the MMS setting from your APN in the settings?
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I removed the MMS settings and it hasn't said "converting to mms" after 3 sms's. I suppose that means it's working
Thanks.

TonyHoyle said:
Sounds like an advantage to me.. Nokias do that too if you type a message too long for SMS. What's the problem? Your message arrives at the other end correctly.
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Yeah but I have unlimited sms texts so MMS is automatically a minus for me.

replace the standard messaging app with handcent sms. it's probably my only must-have app on android and it has that option.

niiiick said:
replace the standard messaging app with handcent sms. it's probably my only must-have app on android and it has that option.
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Resolution's too low i'm afraid.
I've only just got away from the iPhone messaging client

resolution of...the icon? everything else is properly done. but if that's your thing, then yeah, the icon looks slightly blurry. wait for an update in the market i guess.

Yeah all of the edges are pixelated.
And I want to get rid of the iPhone messaging client because with only using half of the screen, I don't get as much message on as when it uses the whole width.
I guess I'm a bit bored of the iPhone now and I'd like to mess around with android for a bit first.

Antiskunk said:
I removed the MMS settings and it hasn't said "converting to mms" after 3 sms's. I suppose that means it's working
Thanks.
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Oh wait, it's converting to mms again ¬¬ and I've removed al of the settings for mms.

MMS Question

Is anyone else having issues sending picture mail over 2MB's???? The images just won't send, but when I reduce the size (using picsay pro) the image sends. WTF??? MMS size limit here??

Yes, I have been having that issue, I cant even send screen caps "File is too large" using stock app and also Textra; also does freaking verizon really block MMS over WiFi ??? I just moved from Sprint and I am beginning to regret it... http://i.imgur.com/lMOq8YS.jpg

This is why most everyone I know uses Telegram, Whatsapp, Hangouts.... I mean really? We pay $20/mo for MMS for these kinds of limits? lol. Wireless Carriers are loving how we let them rape us... heck, we hand them the lube and smile willingly. (yeah yeah, unlimited sms is free now, but still part of the overall plan cost).

[Q] Texts over 160 Characters Fail - Stock Message App

Stock Verizon GN3, Stock Message App.
This seems to be a new problem, but whenever I try to send texts with more than 160 characters, it just fails to send. If I reduce the text to 160 or under, it sends just fine. When I first found the problem of it not sending, I pulled the battery and SIM card, and if I remember right, it then did send the long text. But it stopped again shortly after.
I have looked through all the settings, but don't see anything that would automatically split it into 2 texts, or anything else relevant.
Is this an inherent limitation of the Stock Messaging App that I've only just noticed, or something not working right?
I've seen suggestions to switch to Handcent or other App, and I might do this, but would like to get the Stock App to handle this properly if possible.
Thanks.

Any text over 160 characters your phone converts the message to a MMS message that uses your data connection instead of your cell signal like a SMS message..Now I think this is a Verizon thing but if u use wanams xposed module or the other xposed modules that will stop the conversion to MMS and just split the text... that is the only way I know to change it without editing the code....
Sent from my VZW Note3..ha..ha..

Janker5050 said:
Any text over 160 characters your phone converts the message to a MMS message that uses your data connection instead of your cell signal like a SMS message..Now I think this is a Verizon thing but if u use wanams xposed module or the other xposed modules that will stop the conversion to MMS and just split the text... that is the only way I know to change it without editing the code....
Sent from my VZW Note3..ha..ha..
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Thanks for the reply.
If it just converts it to MMS, then it should still just send, and not fail. I understand that it'll use my Data connection, rather than the cell signal, but this shouldn't be a problem: I have Verizon's 3G Network Extender in my home (since my home has poor reception), and I'm sitting right next to it, and a strong WiFi signal available from my ISP, for data.
If this is the case, I still don't understand why it would fail to send, even as an MMS??

Verizon sets up MMS service so that it is only available across a mobile data connection, so your wifi shouldn't be playing a role. And SMS service (which is much older technology than MMS and doesn't use the same "mobile data" link as MMS) also uses the cell radio exclusively.
I use the stock messaging app for texts over 160 characters without a problem (it turns them into MMS as the prior respondent mentioned), but I am on MJ7. Don't know if that makes a difference.
I wonder if it is a bug relating to your use of a network extender? You would know if you got a different result when sending texts > 160 chars when you were on VZW's regular network away from your place.
I recently helped my sister out with a similar set of troubles, and the problem turned out that her (at&t) range extender was hung/frozen.
If that was the case, you would have erratic "trouble" sending any MMS messages. In any event, you should see the "network extender icon" in your notification bar - but it might be useful to verify that you do have a data connection through the extender (turn off WiFi and see if you can still browse).
It won't hurt to power cycle the extender, wait for all it's status lights come up correctly, and then see if that changes anything. (You can send yourself text messages).
Hope that helps.

Try and send yourself or somebody a picture message and report if it goes through fine so we can eliminated any MMS problems..and MMS won't send from wifi...only 3 or 4g
Sent from my VZW Note3..ha..ha..

Thanks for the added ideas and suggestions guys. I had wondered if the Network Extender might be mucking things up. I'll explore the various trouble-shooting steps you both suggested, and track it down.
Will re-post if problems persist.