A standard plain text SMS can contain up to 160 characters, but it is possible to send multiple SMS joined together to form one single long message. Using this method, long messages are split into smaller messages by the sending device and recombined at the receiving end. Each message is then billed separately. When the feature works properly, it is nearly transparent to the user, appearing as a single long text message. This type of message is referred to as many things - a long SMS, a multipart SMS, an extended SMS, or a concatenated SMS.
