When you send a text message using Zoom Phone or Zoom Contact Center, the message may be divided into one or more parts called segments. The number of segments depends on the message’s length and characters used. Understanding how SMS segments work helps you know how your message content is sent and delivered.
Learn more about using SMS with Zoom Phone and sending a Zoom Contact Center outbound SMS.
Each text message is sent using one of two encoding types, depending on the characters in it. Messages with standard letters and symbols can include up to 160 characters in a single segment, or up to 153 characters per segment when split into multiple parts. Messages with emojis or non-Latin characters (such as Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic) are limited to 70 characters in a single segment, or 67 characters per segment when split. This means messages with mixed or special characters may use more segments.
Note: When a message is split into multiple parts, each part includes small bits of system information used for reassembly. This slightly reduces the number of characters allowed per part.
The following factors have no impact on how many segments a message uses:
When a message exceeds the character limit for a single segment, it's split into multiple segments before it's sent. Although segments may be split into multiple segments, the recipient will still receive just a single text message.
Note: If a segment is dropped, delayed, or the recipient's device or carrier doesn't support reassembly, the message may show up as separate texts or arrive incomplete. This happens outside of Zoom's platform, after the message has left the SMS center (SMSC).
Segment count is what is counted towards the daily limits or throughput rates. This may influence messaging costs, depending on your plan.