SMS (Short Message Service) – How the oldest and most popular text messaging service works

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SMS is the oldest short message service (Short Message Service) and most widely used on a world scale. Even though our applications and services are nowadays fashionable Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger si iMessage, SMSare the only text messages that do not need internet connection to be sent and received. It is one of the features SMS, which offers a huge advantage over any other modern service. In addition, it is compatible on all models of classic mobile phones, smartphones and iPhones.

Features and options offered by SMS text messages

Billions of users use it SMS globally, but few know what the features and options of this service are.

Validity Period a SMS – Validity Period

Most mobile phones have an option in the menu that allows you to set one periods of validity for type text messages SMS. This validity period refers to the time period for which the message sent can be stored Message Center al mobile operator, if the recipient's phone is turned off. Offline. We talked about this and here, where he explained to me why the messages sent to us will not arrive after we re-open the phone.
If we have set the 30 minutes for sent messages and the recipient has the phone closed and reopens after less than 30 minutes after sending the message, the Message Center will redirect the message to the recipient. If the time until the phone reopens is longer than 30 minutes, the message will be removed from the Message Center and will no longer be delivered.

Message Status Reports

This is an option that will help Find out if the message was sent successfully left the Message Center to the recipient. For this option to work and you get the information you want, you need to have the activation of this service somewhere in the "Messages" settings of your phone.
The feature is specific to old-generation mobile phones launched before GPRS services.

Shipping Report - Message Submission Reports

You can find out if the message SMS successfully reached the MESSAGE Center of the mobile operator. It is especially useful in situations where the coverage is poor, you make a mistake in the recipient's phone number or other errors occur during shipping. The mobile phone operator will automatically send you a message in which you will be informed if the shipment was made successfully or if there were errors during shipment.

Delivery Report of SMS - Message Delivery Reports

I think this is the most used function by customers. It is the report that tells us if the text message sent by us was delivered on the recipient's phone. Compared to "Message Status Reports"Which tells us if the message was successfully sent from the Message Center to the recipient,"Delivery Reports”Is sent directly by the recipient phone. Sign that the message was delivered successfully or not.
If the receiving phone does not have enough storage space, the message sent is in a format not supported by it, the message "Delivery Reports ”will include this information.

At the beginning of the article I talked about the advantages of messages SMS compared to the new text communication technologies offered by WhatsApp, Facebook and other service operators.
Regarding the disadvantages, it is primarily security. Given the fact that these messages are sent through a Message Center and are weakly encrypted, they can be easily intercepted by dedicated devices. In the case of one SMS international security is even weaker. The message will be sent from one operator to another through several Message Centers and the probability of being intercepted is higher.

At the moment it is said messages sent and received through iMessage and WhatsApp cannot be intercepted, which are encrypted in one direction and would be impossible to decrypt.

I am happy to share my experiences in the field of computers, mobile phones and operating systems, to develop web projects and to bring the most useful tutorials and advice. I like to "play" on the iPhone, MacBook Pro, iPad, AirPort Extreme and on operating systems macOS, iOS, Android and Windows.

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