The Short Message Service (SMS) allows text messages to be sent and received to and from mobile telephones.

The text can comprise words or numbers or an alphanumeric combination. SMS was created as part of the GSM Phase 1 standard. The first short message is believed to have been sent in December 1992 from a PC to a mobile phone on the Vodafone GSM network in the UK. Each short message is up to 160 characters in length when Latin alphabets are used, and 70 characters in length when non-Latin alphabets such as Arabic and Chinese are used. There is no doubting the success of SMS. The market in Europe alone had reached over three billion short messages per month as of December 1999, despite little in proactive marketing by network operators and phone manufacturers. Key market drivers over the next two years, such as the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), will continue this growth path. Typical uses of SMS include notifying a mobile phone owner of a voicemail message, alerting a salesperson of an inquiry and telling a driver the address of the next pickup. SMS TECHNOLOGY SMS is essentially similar to paging, but SMS messages do not require the mobile phone to be active and within range, as they will be held for a number of days until the phone is active and within range. SMS messages are transmitted within the same cell or to anyone with roaming capability. They can also be sent to digital phones from a web site equipped with a PC Link or from one digital phone to another. An SMS gateway is a web site that lets you enter an SMS message to someone within the cell served by that gateway or acts as an international gateway for users with roaming capability. The SMS is a store and forward service. In other words, short messages are not sent directly from sender to recipient, but via an SMS Center. Each mobile telephone network that supports SMS has one or more messaging centers to handle and manage the short messages. The SMS features confirmation of message delivery. This means that, unlike paging, users do not simply send a short message and trust and hope that it gets delivered. Instead the sender of the short message can receive a return message back notifying them whether the short message has been delivered or not. Short messages can be sent and received simultaneously with GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) voice, data and fax calls. This is possible because whereas voice, data and fax calls take over a dedicated radio channel for the duration of the call, short messages travel over and above the radio channel using the signaling path. As such, users of SMS rarely, if ever, get a busy or engaged signal as they can do during peak network usage times. Ways of sending multiple short messages are available. SMS concatenation (stringing several short messages together) and SMS compression (getting more than 160 characters of information within a single short message) have been defined and incorporated in the GSM SMS standards. The network operator needs to purchase its first generation SMS Center as part of the network commissioning plan. The initial SMS Center may simply be a voice mail platform module or a stand-alone SMS Center. It is not possible to make the SMS available without an SMS Center since all short messages pass through the SMS Center. RECENT SMS DEVELOPMENTS Because simple person-to-person messaging is such an important component of total SMS traffic volumes, anything that simplifies message generation is an important enabler of SMS. Predictive text input algorithms significantly reduce the number of key strokes that need to be made to input a message. T9, from Tegic, anticipates which word the user is trying to generate. Widespread incorporation of such algorithms into the installed base of mobile phones will typically lead to an average uplift in SMS traffic of 25% per enabled user. These predictive text algorithms support multiple languages. The introduction of standardised protocols such as SIM Application Toolkit and the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) contribute to an increase in messaging usage by providing a standard service development and deployment environment for application developers and business partners. These protocols also make it easier for users to reply to and otherwise access messaging services through custom menus on the phone. While these protocols are only a means to an end and not new messaging destinations or services, they are likely to lead to a 10-15% uplift in total SMS volumes. The introduction of more user-friendly terminals contributes to increases in messaging usage. Terminals such as smart phones make it easier for users to originate, reply to and otherwise access messaging services through the provision of a QWERTY keyboard, rather than the limited keypad on standard mobile phones.

Short message service is a mechanism of delivery of short messages over the mobile networks. It is a store and forward way of transmitting messages to and from mobiles. The message (text only) from the sending mobile is stored in a central short message center (SMS) which then forwards it to the destination mobile. This means that in the case that the recipient is not available, the short message is stored and can be sent later. Each short message can be no longer than 160 characters. These characters can be text (alphanumeric) or binary Non-Text Short messages. An interesting feature of SMS is return receipts. This means that the sender, if wishes, can get a small message notifying if the short message was delivered to the intended recipient. Since SMS used signaling channel as opposed to dedicated channels, these messages can be sent/received simultaneously with the voice/data/fax service over a GSM network. SMS supports national and international roaming. This means that you can send short messages to any other GSM mobile user around the world. With the PCS networks based on all the three technologies, GSM, CDMA and TDMA supporting SMS, SMS is more or less a universal mobile data service.

Note: The actual limit of size of SMS is 160 characters if Latin alphabets

are used. If non-Latin alphabets like Chinese or Arabic are used, the limit is 70 characters.
How does SMS work

The figure below shows a typical organization of network elements in a GSM network supporting SMS.

The SMC (Short Message Center) is the entity which does the job of store and forward of messages to and from the mobile station. The SME (Short Message Entity) which can be located in the fixed network or a mobile station, receives and sends short messages.

The SMS GWMS (SMS gateway MSC) is a gateway MSC that can also receive short messages. The gateway MSC is a mobile networks point of contact with other networks. On receiving the short message from the short message center, GMSC uses the SS7 network to interrogate the current position of the mobile station form the HLR, the home location register. HLR is the main database in a mobile network. It holds information of the subscription profile of the mobile and also about the routing information for the subscriber, i.e. the area (covered by a MSC) where the mobile is currently situated. The GMSC is thus able to pass on the message to the correct MSC. MSC (Mobile Switching Center) is the entity in a GSM network which does the job of switching connections between mobile stations or between mobile stations and the fixed network. A VLR (Visitor Location Register) corresponds to each MSC and contains temporary information about the mobile, information like mobile identification and the cell (or a group of cells) where the mobile is currently situated. Using information form the VLR the MSC is able to switch the information (short message) to the corresponding BSS (Base Station System, BSC + BTSs), which transmits the short message to the mobile. The BSS consists of transceivers, which send and receive information over the air interface, to and from the mobile station. This information is passed over the signaling channels so the mobile can receive messages even if a voice or data call is going on.
Applications

Some of the common applications of SMS are:

Exchanging small messages like "See you at 8.30 tonight at xyz". SMS is particularly suited for these kinds of short messages because SMS is much cheaper than calling some one and giving the same message. Calling some one to give the same message would invariably take more time and hence more cost. Many operators offer e-mail service over SMS. Every user is assigned an email address at signup and any message delivered to that email is converted to short messages and delivered to the mobile. It is possible to send e-mail messages (less than 160 characters) from a mobile phone to any e-mail address via SMS. Information services like news, weather, entertainment and stock prices etc. can be availed just by sending a keyword like NEWS, WEATH etc to the short message center number.

SMS can be used by the network operators to provide services like balance enquiry in case of prepaid cards using SMS. Mobile chatting is one more hot application of SMS SMS can be used to notify users that they have received new voice-mail or fax messages. It provides an alternative to alphanumeric paging services Using SIM-Toolkit, now a part of GSM specifications, SMS can be used to have on the air activation of features. By sending codes embedded in short messages from the server network operators can remotely provision the user's wireless terminal Internet e-mail alerts. Downloading new ring tones.

The present state of SMS

SMS has seen unprecedented growth in the last few years. In Europe SMS has already crossed three billion messages per month mark. The current figures and future projections in the European market below, clearly demonstrate the popularity of SMS in Europe. The international figures are not much different. (Data source http://www.gsmworld.com/gsmdata).

The first short message was sent in December 1992 from a Personal
Computer (PC) to a mobile phone on the Vodafone GSM network in the UK In many parts of Europe people are spending more on SMS as compared to voice services. In Germany, UK, and Italy, SMS is very popular and the popularity especially among young people continues to rise.

Developments like WAP and SIM toolkit are greatly helping to increase the message usage. SMS can be used as a bearer service for WAP and until 2.5G services like GPRS become common, SMS would be increasingly used as a bearer for WAP. These protocols are also making it much easier for the users to access messaging services.
Limitations of SMS

There is no doubt that SMS has been very popular. The figures in the section above support this. What is more interesting to observe is that this popularity has been inspite of many limitations of SMS. Many of these limitations are the driving force behind the developments and initiatives being taken in the field of short messaging. Some of the limitations of SMS are:

Messages are plain vanilla in nature. You can only send simple text messages. There is no scope for any graphics or audio.

However As mentioned in the next section EMS would help fill this gap.

The messages are limited by size. An SMS message cant exceed 160 characters. (BTW this limitation is due to the limitation in the MAP protocol in GSM) In case of longer e-mails or information service messages like news, the messages need to broken down into more than one message. The need to break the messages into several smaller segments could make SMS comparatively costlier in comparison to GPRS (for the same kind of service). Also, This doesnt look very appealing on a mobile device!

However MMS (talked about later) would remove the limitation of small messages

The limitation of easy input mechanisms in mobile devices makes it very uncomfortable sending messages larger than even 5-6 words.

However Predictive text input algorithms implemented in a mobile phone can greatly help. Voice recognition systems can further help ease the situation

Many proprietary protocols are used by SMS operators and application developers need to implement different interfaces for making their applications work with different SMS centers. X.25 is used as a popular protocol for connecting with SMS centers. SMS protocol data units as defined in GSM 03.40 are also not very efficient. The various header fields in the PDU are fixed which puts a constraint on the scenarios that can be indicated. 3G specifications are being looked up to look and address these constraints. Data rate and latency. GPRS and USSD provide better data rates and lower latency compared to SMS. This is because SMS uses the slow signaling channel, which is used for many other things also in GSM.

However MMS will use data channels and hence higher rates and lower latency.

The store and forward nature of SMS, though useful in many applications makes SMS not very suitable for WAP

Initiatives and future developments

SMS is a first generation GSM service. As described in the previous section, SMS has some inherent limitations. The majority of these are to do with the fact that SMS is plain vanilla in nature. Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) is a mechanism by which you can send a comparatively richer message that are combination of text, simple melodies, pictures (simple, black and white) and animations to an EMS compliant handset. The service is very much based on the existing SMS. It basically extends the User Data Header (UDH)

in SMS (UDH makes it possible to include binary information in the message header) and infact needs no upgrade to the network infrastructure. The handsets however need to be EMS compliant. The first EMS handsets should be available by mid of 2001.

In EMS there are 10 different predefined sounds including low and high
chimes and chords, Ding, TaDa, Claps, Drum and Notify.

EMS standards are a part of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)

technical specification: 3G TS 23.040, "Technical realization of the Short Message Service (SMS)"

The next step in the evolution of SMS, which requires substantial changes in the network infrastructure, is the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) that allows a combination of text, sounds, images and video. MMS will support pictures and interactive video. It will be possible, for example, to send mobile greeting cards and visiting cards using MMS. MMS uses standardized protocols like WAP, MExE and SMTP. While EMS requires content reformatting for mobile devices, there is no such requirement for MMS. Theoretically MMS may run on any bearer service, but practically it would require GPRS or 3G bearer services before it starts appearing. AS opposed to SMS, MMS needs a dedicated channel. It would also require new network elements like Multimedia Messaging Relays, MMS Server and MMS User Databases. While MMS trials have been planned in mid 2001, the first MMS compliant handsets are expected to hit the market only in end 2002. MMS is being standardized by the 3GPP

According to 3GPP standards MMS is a new service, which has no direct

equivalent in the previous ETSI/GSM world or in the fixed network world.
SMS, WAP, and GPRS?

Where does SMS go with services like WAP and GPRS? Well, The first thing to understand is that SMS is a bearer service. It is a mechanism of sending short messages. WAP provides the user with services and protocols that can be used on top of SMS. With the increased use of WAP, the SMS traffic in networks should see considerable increase. GPRS, on the other hand, is a packet based data service that provides much higher throughput. Unlike SMS, it provides a real time data bearer. The users always stay connected to the network. But GPRS and SMS dont really compete with each other in the real sense. The costs involved in sending small messages for an end user in case of SMS are expected to be lower than that in GPRS (packet data) service because the responsibility for

sending the message to the recipient in case of SMS lies entirely on the short message center as opposed to the user in GPRS. In GPRS there is no concept of storage. Confirmation of delivery is a unique feature of SMS because of the very nature of short message service. Simultaneous transmission with GSM voice, data, and fax services is another distinguishing characteristic of SMS. True, GPRS will be a much better option to use for services like WAP, but the availability of GPRS and GPRS-compliant handsets will take some time to pickup. Also, SMS needs no special network elements and handsets. It is something that almost every mobile user has and can use to send messages to any other mobile user without worrying about the capabilities of that mobile and its network!
Conclusions

SMS, because of its very nature has unique advantages that other non voice services do not have. It provides a very convenient method of exchanging small bits of information between mobile users. The reasons for the enormous popularity of SMS have been the fact that this mechanism of sending and receiving messages not only saves time but costs less as well. In many situations one is relatively much more comfortable sending a message via SMS than talking over phone. With new information services and unique value added services being used by the operators the popularity of SMS is increasing further. SMS is also uniquely positioned as a very attractive advertisement medium. SMS should no longer be treated as a value added service in mobile networks. SMS is not only providing a useful mechanism for a host of innovative services over mobile networks but it acting as a point of entry for new data services like WAP in mobile networks.
Abbreviations SMTP MexE WAP GPRS 3GPP Simple Mail Transport Protocol Mobile station application execution environment Wireless Application Protocol General Packet Radio Service Third Generation Partnership Program

MAP TDMA CDMA

Mobile Application Part Time division multiple access Code division multiple access

Just when we're finally used to seeing everybody constantly talking on their cell phones, it suddenly seems like no one is talking at all. Instead, they're typing away on tiny numerical pads, using their cell phones to send quick messages. SMS, or text messaging, has replaced talking on the phone for a new "thumb generation" of texters. In this article, we'll find out how text messaging works, explore its uses and learn why it sometimes takes a while for your text message to get to its recipient. SMS stands for short message service. Simply put, it is a method of communication that sends text between cell phones, or from a PCor handheld to a cell phone. The "short" part refers to the maximum size of the text messages: 160 characters (letters, numbers or symbols in the Latin alphabet). For other alphabets, such as Chinese, the maximum SMS size is 70 characters. But how do SMS messages actually get to your phone? If you have read How Cell Phones Work, you can actually see what is happening. Even if you are not talking on your cell phone, your phone is constantly sending and receiving information. It is talking to its cell phone tower over a pathway called a control channel. The reason for this chatter is so that the cell phone system knows which cell your phone is in, and so that your phone can change cells as you move around. Every so often, your phone and the tower will exchange a packet of data that lets both of them know that everything is OK. Your phone also uses the control channel for call setup. When someone tries to call you, the tower sends your phone a message over the control channel that tells your phone to play its ringtone. The tower also gives your phone a pair of voice channel

frequencies to use for the call. The control channel also provides the pathway for SMS messages. When a friend sends you an SMS message, the message flows through the SMSC, then to the tower, and the tower sends the message to your phone as a little packet of data on the control channel. In the same way, when you send a message, your phone sends it to the tower on the control channel and it goes from the tower to the SMSC and from there to its destination.

The actual data format for the message includes things like the length of the message, a time stamp, the destination phone number, the format, etc. For a complete byte-by-byte breakdown of the message format, see this page.
SMS ATTACKS

Recently it has been suggested that SMS messages could be used to attack a cell phone system. The basic idea is very simple. If a large number of SMS messages were sent by computers to phones in a small geographical area (like a city), these messages would overwhelm the control channels and make it impossible for the cell phone system to set up calls. Now that cell phone providers

know about the possibility of this threat, they can design systems to throttle messages coming from the SMSC onto the network.

Advantages of SMS
SMS has several advantages. It is more discreet than a phone conversation, making it the ideal form for communicating when you don't want to be overheard. It is often less timeconsuming to send a text message than to make a phone call or send an e-mail. SMS doesn't require you to be at your computer like e-mail and instant messaging (IM) do -- although some phones are equipped for mobile e-mail and IM services. SMS is also a convenient way for deaf and hearing-impaired people to communicate. SMS is a store-and-forward service, meaning that when you send a text message to a friend, the message does not go directly to your friend's cell phone. The advantage of this method is that your friend's cell phone doesn't have to be active or in range for you to send a message. The message is stored in the SMSC (for days if necessary) until your friend turns his cell phone on or moves into range, at which point the message is delivered. The message will remain stored on your friend's SIM card until he deletes it. In addition to person-to-person messages, SMS can be used to send a message to a large number of people at a time, either from a list of contacts or to all the users within a particular area. This service is called broadcasting and is used by companies to contact groups of employees or by online services to distribute news and other information to subscribers. In a 2004 University of Plymouth study on the psychology of SMS users, researchers found that mobile phone users were primarily either "texters" or "talkers" [ref]. Compared to the talkers, the texters sent nearly double the number of SMS messages and made less than half as many voice calls per month. The texters preferred SMS to voice calls for its convenience as well as for the ability to review a message before sending it. Companies have come up with many uses for the service beyond just your typical person-to-person message. Because SMS doesn't overload the network as much as phone calls, it is frequently used

by TVshows to let viewers vote on a poll topic or for a contestant. As a promotional tool, wireless carriers put upgiant screens at concerts and other large-scale events to display text messages from people in the audience. You can use text messaging subscription services to get medication reminders sent to your phone, along with weather alerts, news headlines or even novels broken into 160-character "chapters." Internet search engines such as Yahoo! and Google have short messaging services that enable users to get information such as driving directions, movie showtimes or local business listings just by texting a query to the search engine's phone number. Social networking services such as Dodgeball use SMS to alert people who live in big cities when their friends or crushes are nearby. The possibilities for integrating SMS into your lifestyle seem endless. Next, we'll discuss the disadvantages of SMS and look at some alternative communication technologies.

MS Criticism and Alternatives

Despite their popularity, short messaging services have received some criticism. Here are a few of the disadvantages of SMS: You have to pay for it. Most wireless plans charge for a certain number of text messages a month. Some only charge for useroriginated messages, while others charge for incoming messages as well. If you exceed your message allowance, you may be charged 10 cents per message, and those little charges can add up. Speedy message delivery is not guaranteed. During periods of high traffic, it might be minutes or even hours before a message gets through. It's strictly for sending text messages. SMS does not support sending pictures, video or music files. Alternatives to SMS Alternative messaging services allow for more elaborate types of messages. With EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), you can send formatted text, sound effects, small pictures and icons. MMS(Multimedia Messaging Service) allows you to send animations, audio and video files in addition to text. If your mobile phone is EMS- or MMS-enabled, you can use these standards just as you would SMS. However, the cost per message will be higher.

Another alternative to using SMS is using an instant messaging program, such as AOL IM, on your cell phone. This can be in the form of software that's pre-installed on your phone, or you can use WAP(Wireless Application Protocol) to access the Internet and sign into your IM account. WAP is a protocol that gives you small, simplified versions of web pages that are easily navigable on your mobile phone or PDA (check out How WAP Works for more information). You can use it to send instant messages or actualemails from your phone. A common complaint about SMS is its inefficient delivery structure - when the message center is backed up, messages take longer to reach their destination. To make message delivery faster, networks are using more new next-generation technologies such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). To learn more about SMS and other forms of mobile communication, check out the links on the following page.

http://www.funsms.net/sms_tutorial.htm

5.1. Validity Period of an SMS Message

An SMS message is stored temporarily in the SMS center if the recipient mobile phone is offline. It is possible to specify the period after which the SMS message will be deleted from the SMS center so that the SMS message will not be forwarded to the recipient mobile phone when it becomes online. This period is called the validity period. Here is an example that illustrates how validity period can be used. Suppose you find a very interesting program that is showing on TV now. You think your friend may want to watch it. So, you send a text message to tell your friend about the TV program. Let's say the TV program lasts for an hour. Your SMS text message will not be useful to your friend if his mobile phone is not available before the program finishes. In this situation, you may want to send a text message with a validity period of one hour to your friend. The wireless carrier will not deliver the SMS text message to your friend if his mobile phone is not available before the validity period ends. A mobile phone should have a menu option that can be used to set the validity period. After setting it, the mobile phone will include the validity period in the outbound SMS messages automatically.

5.2. Message Status Reports

Sometimes you may want to know whether an SMS message has reached the recipient mobile phone successfully. To get this information, you need to set a flag in the SMS message to notify the SMS center that you want a status report about the delivery of this SMS message. The status report is sent to you in the form of an SMS message. A mobile phone should have a menu option that can be used to set whether the status report feature is on or off. After setting it, the mobile phone will set the corresponding flag in the outbound SMS messages for you automatically. The status report feature is turned off by default on most mobile phones and GSM / GPRS modems.

5.3. Message Submission Reports

After leaving the mobile phone, an SMS message goes to the SMS center. When it reaches the SMS center, the SMS center will send back a message submission report to the mobile phone to inform whether there are any errors or failures (e.g. incorrect SMS message format, busy SMS center, etc). If there is no error or failure, the SMS center sends back a positive submission report to the mobile phone. Otherwise it sends back a negative submission report to the mobile phone. The mobile phone may then notify the user that the message submission was failed and what caused the failure. If the mobile phone does not receive the message submission report after a period of time, it concludes that the message submission report has been lost. The mobile phone may then resend the SMS message to the SMS center. A flag will be set in the new SMS message to inform the SMS center that this SMS message has been sent before. If the previous message submission was successful, the SMS center will ignore the new SMS message but send back a message submission report to the mobile phone. This mechanism prevents the sending of the same SMS message to the recipient multiple times. Sometimes the message submission report mechanism is not used and the acknowledgement of message submission is done in a lower layer.

5.4. Message Delivery Reports

After receiving an SMS message, the recipient mobile phone will send back a message delivery report to the SMS center to inform whether there are any errors or failures (example causes: unsupported SMS message format, not enough storage space, etc). This process is transparent to the mobile user. If there is no error or failure, the recipient mobile phone sends back a positive delivery report to the SMS center. Otherwise it sends back a negative delivery report to the SMS center. If the sender requested a status report earlier, the SMS center sends a status report to the sender when it receives the message delivery report from the recipient. If the SMS center does not receive the message delivery report after a period of time, it concludes that the message delivery report has been lost. The SMS center then re-sends the SMS message to the recipient. Sometimes the message delivery report mechanism is not used and the acknowledgement of message delivery is done in a lower layer.