The SMS technology has facilitated the development and growth of text messaging. The connection between the phenomenon of text messaging and the underlying technology is so great that in parts of the world the term "SMS" is used colloquially as a synonym for a text message from another person or the act of sending a text message (even when, as with MMS , a different underlying protocol is being used). SMS as used on modern handsets was originally defined as part of the GSM series of standards in 1985 as a means of sending messages of up to 160 characters, to and from GSM mobile handsets. Since then, support for the service has expanded to include alternative mobile standards such as ANSI CDMA networks and Digital AMPS , as well as satellite and landline networks. Most SMS messages are mobile-to-mobile text messages, though the standard supports other types of broadcast messaging as well. |
SMS as part of GSM The idea of adding text messaging to the services of mobile users was latent in many communities of mobile communication services at the beginning of the 1980s. Experts from several of those communities contributed in the discussions on which should be the GSM services. Most thought of SMS as providing a means to alert the individual mobile user, for example, of a deposited voice mail, whereas others had more sophisticated applications in their minds, such as telemetry . However, few believed that SMS would be used as a means for sending text messages from one mobile user to another. As early as February 1985, after having already been discussed in GSM subgroup WP3, chaired by J. Audestad, SMS was considered in the main GSM group as a possible service for the new digital cellular system. In GSM document " Services and Facilities to be provided in the GSM System ", both mobile originated and mobile terminated short messages appear on the table of GSM teleservices.