Unicode Detector

Naturally, many individuals overlook the diversity of characters when sending transactional text messages. However, various encoding standards exist for transmitting different characters, each consuming a different number of characters within a message. This bears significance as it might result in increased SMS credit usage, potentially elevating the cost of your SMS traffic. Here are the primary character sets to consider:

• Standard Character Set
• Extended Standard Character Set
• Unicode Character Set Understanding these sets is crucial in comprehending how characters affect SMS usage and associated costs.

The Standard Character Set

It encompasses the entire Latin alphabet, numerical digits, frequently used punctuation, and essential symbols. Messages sent using Standard characters can contain a maximum of 160 characters.

The Extended Standard Character Set

The extended standard character set enables the transmission of ten additional symbols, each requiring a two-character space to be sent. These extended Standard characters comprise the following: £, ^, {, }, [, ~, ], €, LF (Line Feed), CR (Carriage Return).

The Unicode Character Set

The Unicode standard is an encoding system that expands the range of characters beyond the standard Latin set, accommodating technical symbols and emojis. However, when using Unicode encoding for a text message, the available characters decrease significantly to only 70, contrasting with the 160 characters allowed. This reduction occurs because Unicode characters require two bytes of space compared to the one byte used by standard characters. Detection of any Unicode characters triggers the transmission of the entire message as a Unicode SMS, restricting the available characters from 160 to just 70. This substantial shift can significantly impact SMS credit usage. Therefore, ensuring the intended encoding standard (Standard or Unicode) is crucial for effective message transmission.

What is the Unicode Character Detector?

A Unicode character detector serves as a complementary tool enabling the identification of characters within your text messages that deviate from the Standard character set. Once Unicode characters are identified, adjustments can be made to exclusively utilise Standard characters, thereby expanding the character count per text from 70 to 160.

How do you identify Unicode characters?

Please copy and paste the message into the provided message window. Standard characters will be showcased in distinct colours based on their character set: – Standard Characters will be displayed in one colour – Extended standard Characters will be displayed in another colour – Unicode Characters will be displayed in a separate colour Utilise the Unicode character finder to identify any characters outside the Standard character set. Upon identification, make the necessary alterations and recheck as needed.

SMS Character Counter

The tool incorporates an SMS character counter, allowing you to verify that your text messages align with the anticipated character count, ensuring the expected utilisation of SMS credits. A typical text message comprises 160 characters, including spaces. Messages exceeding 160 characters will be sent as multipart messages, charged at 153 characters per text. The remaining 7 characters are utilised to reassemble these messages into a single entity upon reaching the recipient’s handset. The maximum message length permitted is 1280 characters, incurring 8 credits for transmission.

Reasons to use the Unicode Character identifier

Incorporating the Unicode identifier into your workflow holds significant importance for the following reasons:

• Detect and remove Unicode characters from your texts, preventing excessive utilisation of costly SMS credits.
• Accurately determine the exact count of characters utilised in message transmission.
• Compute the precise number of message credits utilised for sending your messages.

Which characters commonly cause a message to be sent in Unicode?

Occasionally, a message might seem devoid of Unicode characters but is still transmitted as Unicode. This issue commonly arises when content is copied from word processing software like Microsoft Word. The culprits often include specific characters such as commas, apostrophes, and to a lesser extent, double quotation marks. Unlike Standard Character’s straightforward vertical line versions, Word’s renditions of commas and apostrophes are rich text characters that exhibit a leftward curve