SMS Unicode: SMS without spelling mistakes

Sending bulk SMS messages automatically uses the GSM alphabet, which doesn’t include special characters or accents. In order to include these, we need to send SMS messages using SMS Unicode, with a maximum length of 70 characters.

What is SMS Unicode? 

Sending bulk SMS with Unicode utilises a coding system designed by the programming and web development sectors.

The system is capable of understanding a wide variety of characters above and beyond the basic Latin characters (A-Z), which means you can communicate using any alphabet and include technical symbols.

Bulk SMS in Unicode is a message encoded in the Unicode Standard alphabet (charset). Any message which contains an accent, with a Chinese character or any other symbol that doesn’t appear on the standard keyboard should be encoded with Unicode so that it can be correctly received and read without problems.

How many characters can I include in SMS Unicode? 

A Unicode character needs 2 bytes of space, in contrast with the GSM characters. This means that a message in Unicode has to be shorter than an SMS message which uses standard coding.

A Unicode SMS can contain up to 70 characters, but in reality, this isn’t really a problem because we can link SMS messages together to lengthen the message to up to 500 characters.

So there’s no need to sacrifice the quality of messages, or pay more. It only costs 1 credit for every 70 characters.

How do I get started? SMS Unicode: SMS without spelling mistakes

If you are already registered, click on the SMS Unicode section of your account. Using this option in your WebSMS application, you’ll be able to send bulk SMS containing any letter, character or symbol with an easy, simple and intuitive system.

You can also set it up through the API with the tag or variable <ucs2> and coding the message in UTF8. You can find more information in the API manuals or contacting our support department.

Will it cost me lots of money?

No. The SMS Unicode service is already activated on all accounts and is completely free. Only 1 credit is deducted for every 70 characters.

You don’t have to give up the quality of your messages for the price, so go ahead and write well!

This post aims to set out an approach to sending bulk SMS messages with Unicode, so that messages sent are professional, and letters and accents don’t have to be “eaten”. The rest is in your hands. Now you can use symbols as you please and create the content that you want.