Parameters - CharacterSetID

CharacterSetID

This parameter sets the Character Set of your message body. The settings associated with this parameter are:

The most widely used character set is the GSM 03.38 character set. This character set is used throughout Western Europe and supports most characters used within Roman English-based languages. GSM 03.38 is the default character set for mobile handsets.

A message that uses the GSM 03.38 character set can contain up to 160 characters. If an extended or concatenated message is sent, then messages over 160 characters are sent (and charged for) in parts of 153 characters.

If you wish to send characters that are outside of the GSM 03.38 character set, then you can choose the character set that contains your characters by setting the characterSetID parameter appropriately. If you are not using the GSM 03.38 character set, then most commonly you would use the Unicode character set.

Most ideogram writing systems and symbol-based languages, such as Chinese, Hindi, Japanese and Cyrillic, use the Unicode character set to accurately send messages with native content.

The maximum message length is affected by your choice of character set. The maximum message length of 160 characters for a single message (and an extended SMS message having message parts with a maximum length of 153 characters), is based on your message using the GSM 03.38 character set.

A single message that uses the Unicode character set can contain a maximum of 70 characters. If an extended or concatenated Unicode message is sent with over 70 characters in the message body, then the Unicode message will be sent (and charged for) in message parts of 66 characters.