Time and place
This was the most popular text-based system before SMS.
Pager
The network entity often blamed when nobody knows—or is willing to find out—what caused the technical issues with delivery.
The carrier (Partner)
SMS costs for businesses increased significantly due to this type of fraud.
AIT
SMS messages used to verify a user’s identity during login.
One Time Password (OTP)
The maximum number of characters allowed in a single SMS.
160
If you are texting a mobile number in Czechia, you will need to start with this 3-digit country code.
+420
These receipts are sent back by the carrier to confirm that a message has successfully reached the subscriber's device.
Delivery reports
Bank alerts and marketing blasts fall under this specific traffic category, which the industry abbreviates as A2P.
Application-to-Person
Unlike a standard phone number, this 3-6 digit address is specifically designed for high-volume commercial messaging.
Short code
The maximum length of an Alphanumeric Sender ID.
11
The year when the first SMS message was sent (+/- 2 years).
1992
If you use an emoji, Chinese character, Cyrillic etc., the encoding switches to this 16-bit standard.
UCS-2 (Unicode)
This term describes a connection where the aggregator binds directly to the operator.
0-Hop
The messaging technology often considered SMS’s modern successor on smartphones.
Rich Communication Services (RCS)
If you send 1,000 texts and get 50 link taps, your campaign has achieved a 5% rate in this metric.
This country became the first to offer a commercial consumer SMS service.
Finland
This directional term describes a text sent from a handset to an application.
Mobile originated
A message path that utilizes unofficial channels to avoid paying termination fees to the destination carrier.
Gray route
Aside from checking if a number exists, this network query can also report if a subscriber is roaming or currently "absent".
HLR query
When sending a multipart message containing emojis or foreign characters, the character limit per SMS part drops from 70 to this number to make room for the header.
67
The content of the first SMS message sent by Neil Papworth.
Merry Christmas
The protocol used between operator interconnections, to which you get access after becoming MNO/MVNO.
SS7
This consumer feature allows you to switch your service to a different operator without having to change your phone number.
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
An SMS that appears directly on the phone screen without being saved to the inbox is known as this "Class 0" message.
Flash SMS
Often a physical limitation set by the aggregator, this metric measures the sheer volume of PDUs a system can process per second.
Throughput