GSM-7

GSM-7 is the 7-bit character set used for standard SMS. Messages in GSM-7 fit 160 characters per segment; messages with non-GSM-7 characters drop to 70 characters per segment in UCS-2 encoding.

For SMS reminders, GSM-7 vs UCS-2 makes a real cost difference. A reminder of 150 characters fits one GSM-7 segment but three UCS-2 segments — three times the cost per send.

In RequestLoops, accented Latin characters are transliterated to their GSM-7 equivalents (é → e, à → a, ç → c) in SMS bodies where the substitution does not change meaning — keeping most reminders in a single segment.

Korean, Chinese and other non-Latin scripts cannot be transliterated and remain in UCS-2.

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