Short Message Service

SMS, function on a mobile phone that enables short messages to be relayed from one mobile phone to another

This article describes the technical methods for providing the text messaging service. For information about text messaging in general, see Text messaging. The Short Message Service (SMS), often called text messaging, is a means of sending short messages to and from mobile phones. SMS 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, satellite and landline networks. Most SMS messages are mobile-to-mobile text messages, though the standard supports other types of broadcast messaging as well.
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<messaging> (SMS) A message service offered by the GSM digital cellular telephone system.
Using SMS, a short alphanumeric message (160 alphanumeric characters) can be sent to a mobile phone to be displayed there, much like in an alphanumeric pager system. The message is buffered by the GSM network until the phone becomes active.
(1996-02-18)