| Text Messages |
Articles about Short Message Service |
Website Links For Short |
Information AboutText Messages |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE | |
| {{{1 | |
| }}} articles with sections needing expansion | |
| gsm standard | |
| mobile | |
|
Short Message Service ('''SMS''') is a service available on most digital Mobile Phone s that permits the sending of short messages (also known as '''text messages''', or more colloquially '''SMSes''', '''texts''' or even '''txts''') between Mobile Phone s, other handheld devices and even Landline telephones. Other uses of text messaging can be for ordering ringtones, wallpapers and entering competitions. HISTORY As with most other services and modules of functionality of the GSM system, no individual can claim the fatherhood of SMS. The idea of adding text messaging to the services of mobile users was latent in many communities of mobile communication services at the beginning of the 1980s. Experts from several of those communities contributed in the discussions on which should be the GSM services. Most thought of SMS as a means to alert the individual mobile user e.g. on incoming voice mail, whereas others had more sophisticated applications in their minds, e.g. Telemetry . However, few believed that SMS would be used as a means for sending text messages from one mobile user to another. As early as February 1985, after having already been discussed in GSM subgroup WP3, chaired by J. Audestad, SMS was considered in the main GSM group as a possible service for the new digital cellular system. In GSM document 'Services and Facilities to be provided in the GSM System' (GSM Doc 28/85 rev2, June 1985), both mobile originated and mobile terminated, including point-to-point and point-to-multipoint, short messages appear on the table of GSM teleservices. The discussions on the GSM services were then concluded in e.g. the recommendation GSM 02.03 'TeleServices supported by a GSM PLMN'. Here, a rudimentary description of the three services 1) Short message Mobile Terminated / Point-to-Point, 2) Short message Mobile Originated / Point-to-Point and 3) Short message Cell Broadcast was given. This was handed over to a new GSM body called IDEG (the Implementation of Data and Telematic Services Experts Group), which had its kickoff in May 1987 under the chairmanship of Friedhelm Hillebrand. The technical standard known today was largely created by IDEG (later WP4) as of the two recommendations GSM 03.40 (the two point-to-point services merged together) and GSM 03.41 (cell broadcast). The first commercial short message was sent on settings on individual handsets to the SMSCs of other operators. Over time, this issue was eliminated by switch-billing instead of billing at the SMSC and by new features within SMSCs to allow blocking of foreign mobile users sending messages through it. By the end of 2000, the average number of messages per user reached 35. SMS was originally designed as part of GSM, but is now available on a wide range of networks, including 3G networks. However, not all text messaging systems use SMS, and some notable alternate implementations of the concept include J-Phone 's '' SkyMail '' and NTT Docomo 's '' Short Mail '', both in Japan . E-mail messaging from phones, as popularized by NTT Docomo's I-mode and the RIM BlackBerry , also typically use standard mail protocols such as SMTP over TCP/IP . TECHNICAL DETAILS between countries. Here, T-Mobile welcomes a Proximus subscriber to the UK and BASE welcomes an Orange UK customer to Belgium.]] The ''Short Message Service - Point to Point (SMS-PP)'' is defined in GSM recommendation 03.40. This is separate from GSM 03.41 which defines the Short Message Service - Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB) which allows messages (advertising, public information, etc.) to be broadcast to all mobile users in a specified geographical area. Messages are sent via a Store-and-forward mechanism to a Short Message Service Centre (SMSC), which will attempt to send the message to the recipient and possibly retry if the user is not reachable at a given moment. Both Mobile Terminated (''MT''), for messages sent to a mobile handset, and '''Mobile Originating''' ('''MO'''), for those that are sent from the mobile handset, operations are supported. Message delivery is Best Effort , so there are no guarantees that a message will actually be delivered to its recipient and delay or complete loss of a message is not uncommon, particularly when sending between networks. Users may choose to request delivery reports, which can provide positive confirmation that the message has reached the intended recipient, but notifications for failed deliveries are unreliable at best. Transmission of the short messages between SMSC and phone is via SS7 within the standard GSM MAP framework. Messages are sent with the additional MAP operation ''forward_short_message'', whose payload length is limited by the constraints of the signalling protocol to precisely 140 Byte s. In practice, this translates to either 160 7- Bit characters, 140 8-bit characters, or 70 2-byte characters in languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Slavonic languages (e.g. Russian) when encoded using 2-byte UTF-16 Character Encoding (see Unicode ). This does not include Routing data and other Metadata , which is additional to the payload size. Larger content (known as long SMS or '''concatenated SMS''') can be sent Segmented over multiple messages, in which case each message will start with a user data header (UDH) containing segmentation information. Since UDH is inside the payload, the number of characters per segment is lower: 153 for 7 bit encoding, 134 for 8 bit encoding and 67 for 16 bit encoding. The receiving phone is then responsible for reassembling the message and presenting it to the user as one long message. While the standard theoretically permits up to 255 segments, 3 to 4 segment messages are the practical maximum, and long messages are billed as equivalent to multiple SMS messages. Short messages can also be used to send binary content such as Ringtone s or logos, as well as OTA programming or configuration data. Such uses are a vendor-specific extension of the GSM specification and there are multiple competing standards, although Nokia 's Smart Messaging is by far the most common. Some service providers offer the ability to send messages to land line telephones regardless of their capability of receiving text messages by automatically phoning the recipient and reading the message aloud using a Speech Synthesizer along with the number of the sender. Today, sms is also used for Machine to machine Communication . For instance, there is a LED display machine Controlled by SMS, and some Vehicle Tracking companies like ESITrack use SMS for their data Transport or Telemetry needs. PREMIUM CONTENT SMS is widely used for delivering premium content such as news alerts, financial information, logos and ringtones. Such messages are also known as premium-rated short messages ('''PSMS'''). The subscribers are charged extra for receiving this premium content, and the amount is typically split with the Mobile Network Operator and the Content Provider (VASP) dividing the income either through revenue share or a fixed transport fee. Premium short messages are also increasingly being used for "real-world" services. For example, some vending machines now allow payment by sending a premium-rated short message, so that the cost of the item bought is added to the user's phone bill. A new type of 'free premium' or 'hybrid premium' content has emerged with the launch of text-service websites. These sites allow registered users to receive free text messages when items they are interested go on sale, or when new items are introduced. Some companies like WordTel Communication share their gateway among professionals to communicate with that via an Application Programming Interface (API) in order to have their software broadcast messages. The connection between their software and the gateway is established through Internet line. POPULARITY Short message services are developing very rapidly throughout the world. By mid-2004 texts were being sent at a rate of 500 billion messages per annum. At an average cost of USD 0.10 per message, this generates revenues in excess of 50 billion for mobile telephone operators and represents close to 100 text messages for every person in the world. Growth has been rapid; in 2001 , 250 billion short messages were sent, in 2000 just 17 billion. SMS is particularly popular in Europe , Asia (excluding Japan ; see below) and Australia . Popularity has grown to a sufficient extent that the term ''texting'' (used as a Verb meaning the act of mobile phone users sending short messages back and forth) has entered the common lexicon. In China , SMS is very popular, and has brought service providers significant profit (18 billion short messages were sent in 2001 {Link without Title} ). Short messages are particularly popular amongst young urbanites. In many markets, the service is comparatively cheap. For example, in Australia a message typically costs between AUD 0.20 and AUD 0.25 to send, compared to a voice call, which costs anywhere between AUD 0.40 and AUD 2.00 per minute. Despite the low cost to the consumer, the service is enormously profitable to the service providers. At a typical length of only 190 bytes (incl. protocol overhead), more than 350 of these messages per minute can be transmitted at the same datarate as a usual voice call (9 kbit/s). The most frequent SMS'ers are found in south-east Asia. In Singapore , hundreds of messages can be sent per month for free, after which messages cost between SGD 0.05 and SGD 0.07 each to send. The same pricing format is followed in the Philippines where the average user sent 2,300 messages in 2003, making it the world's most avid SMS nation. SMS is a part in almost all marketing campaigns, advocacy, and entertainment. In fact, SMS is so inexpensive (messages cost PHP 1.00 (about USD 0.02) to send), influential, powerful, and addictive for Filipinos that several local dotcoms like Chikka Messenger , GoFISH Mobile , and Bidshot now fully utilise SMS for their services. Europe follows next behind Asia in terms of the popularity of SMSing. In 2003, an average of 16 billion messages were sent each month. Users in Spain sent a little more than fifty messages per month on average in 2003. In Italy , Germany and the United Kingdom the figure was around 35–40 SMSs per month. In each of these countries the cost of sending an SMS varies from as little as £0.03–£0.18 depending on the payment plan. Curiously France has not taken to SMSing in the same way, sending just under 20 messages on average per user per month. France has the same GSM technology as other European countries so the uptake is not hampered by technical restrictions. Part of the reason for the lack of uptake may be due higher prices due to weak competition in the mobile market—the key player Orange is owned by subsidised France Télécom . However some telecom analysts suggest that this factor has dissipated in recent years and say that the reason may be cultural—text messaging is associated with a fast pace of life and France is more reluctant than others to dispense with its traditions. In the US , however, the appeal of SMS is even more limited. Although an SMS usually costs only US$0.05 (many providers also offer monthly allotments), only 13 messages were sent by the average user in 2003. The reasons for this are varied—many users have unlimited "mobile-to-mobile" minutes, high monthly minute allotments, or unlimited service. Moreover, Push To Talk services offer the instant connectivity of SMS and are typically unlimited. Furthermore, the integration between competing providers and technologies necessary for cross-network text messaging has only been available recently. However the recent addition of AT&T -powered SMS voting on the television program '' American Idol '' has introduced many Americans to SMS, and usage is on the rise. In Europe, the Eurovision Song Contest organised the first pan-European SMS-voting in 2002, as a part of the voting system (there was also a voting over the classical phone lines). In 2005, the Eurovision Song Contest organised the biggest televoting ever (with SMS and phone voting). In addition to SMS voting, a different phenomenon has risen in more mobile-phone-saturated countries. In Finland some TV channels began "SMS Chat", which involved sending short messages to a phone number, and the messages would be shown on TV a while later. Chats are always moderated, which prevents sending harmful material to the channel. The craze soon became popular and evolved into games, first slow-paced quiz and strategy games. After a while, faster paced games were designed for television and SMS control. Games tend to involve registering one's nickname, and after that sending short messages for controlling a character on screen. Messages usually cost 0.05 to 0.86 Euro s apiece, and games can require the player to send dozens of messages. In December 2003 Finnish TV-channel MTV3 put a Father Christmas character on air reading aloud messages sent in by viewers. Some customers were later accused of "hacking" after they discovered a way to control Santa's speech synthesiser. More recent late-night attractions on the same channel include "Beach Volley", in which the bikini-clad female hostess blocks balls "shot" by short message. On March 12 2004, the first entirely "interactive" TV-channel "VIISI" began operation in Finland. That did not last long though, as SBS Finland Oy took over the channel and turned it into a music channel named "The Voice" in November 2004. Text messaging is also popular in Japan . However, it is known by different names depending on the mobile service. With NTT DoCoMo , it is known as "i-mode mail." With AU , it is known as "C-Mail." Mobile e-mail is usually the norm when sending messages between phones with different services, but between phones using the same service, text messaging is more prevalent. A few widely publicised speed contests have been held between expert mobile phones have an option to beep "S M S" in Morse code when it receives a short message. There are third-party applications already available for some mobile phones that allow Morse input for short messages (see References ). An increasing trend towards Spamming mobile phone users through SMS has prompted cellular service carriers to take steps against the practice, before it becomes a widespread problem. No major spamming incidents involving SMS have been reported As Of October 2003 , but the existence of mobile-phone spam has already been noted by industry watchdogs, including ''Consumer Reports'' magazine. TEXT SPEAK See main article: Texting Language . caused a number of adaptations in SMS linguistics.]] Because of the limited message lengths and tiny user interface of mobile phones, SMS users commonly make extensive use of Abbreviation s, particularly the use of numbers for words (for example, "4" in place of the word "for"), the omission of vowels, as in the phrase "txt msg", or the replacement of spaces with capitalization, such as "ThisIsVeryCool". To avoid the even more limited message lengths allowed when using Cyrillic or Greek letters, some Eastern Europeans use the Latin Alphabet for their own Language . Historically, this language developed out of shorthand used in Chatrooms on the Internet, where users would abbreviate some words to allow a response to be typed more quickly. However, this became much more pronounced in SMS, where mobile phone users don't generally have access to a QWERTY keyboard as chatroom users did, and more effort is required to type each character. In Mandarin Chinese, numbers that sound similar to words are used in place of those words. For example, the numbers 520 in Chinese ("wu er ling") sound like the words for "I love you" ("wo ai ni"). The sequence 748 ("qi si ba") sounds like the curse for "drop dead". Predictive Text Software that attempts to guess Word s ( AOL / Tegic Communications 's T9 as well as iTAP) or Letter s (Eatoni's LetterWise ) reduces the labor of time-consuming input. This makes abbreviations not only less necessary, but slower to type than regular words which are in the software's Dictionary . However it does make the texts longer, often requiring the text message to be sent in multiple parts and therefore costing more to send. Website portals such as Transl8it! have supported a community of users to help standardize this text speak by allowing users to submit translations, staking claim with their user handle, or to submit top messages and guess the lingo phrases. The international popularity of this portal resulted in late 2005 the publishing of the transl8it! dxNRE & glosRE (dictionary & glossary) as the worlds first, and most complete, SMS and text lingo book. Using the free website service sms translations can are easily made both to and from English, allowing simple translations such as the following passage translated from William Shakespeare 's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream '': :If we shadwoes ave ofendd. Thnk bt ths & al is mnded. That u ave but slumer’d ere; whiL thse visNs did appr; & this wk & idel theme; no mre yEldN bt a dream. Gentles, do nt reprehNd; if u pardon we wil mend; & I am honst Puck; SOCIAL IMPACT OF SMS SMS has caused subtle but interesting changes in society since it became popular. News-worthy events include (in chronological order): Academic impact
Criminal impact
Political impact
Social development
VULNERABILITIES
SEE ALSO
REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|