Do you text?
Of course you do. But have you ever really thought about how texting works? You’ve probably heard the terms SMS and MMS, especially if you’re buying a new smart phone, but you may not know exactly what they mean.
MMS stands for Multi-Media Service. It can be used to send photos and short videos, and texts of greater than 160 characters. While it’s commonly used today, let us focus on the still-popular SMS format.
SMS stands for Short Messaging Service. This is the formal name for text messaging. It’s a way to send short, text-only messages from one phone to another, usually over a cellular data network. As part of the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) standards established in the 1980s, making it one of the oldest methods of mobile communication, the standard SMS is limited to 160 characters per message, including spaces. This limit was established because texting initially was sent using unused resources in the signaling formats of the system of the time to transport the messages at minimal cost.
While the standards were established in the 1980s, the first SMS message wasn’t sent until December 3, 1992. Neil Papworth, using a personal computer, sent a message over the Vodaphone GSM network to Richard Jarvis’s Orbitel 901 handset: “Merry Christmas.” Sweden led the way in texting services in 1993, with Nokia being the only handset manufacturer at the time whose GSM phone line supported SMS text messages. By 1999, texting was gaining global popularity.
Such seemingly simple messages require a surprising amount of technology and coordination. While now being based in CDMA (coded-division multiple access), and TDMA (time-division multiple access) network technologies as well as still using GSM, making its service universal, SMS continues to work on the same fundamental network. To actually transmit a SMS text message, the message from the sending mobile device is stored in a SMC (short message center), which forwards the message to the target device. Its universality is what keeps it a popular format for personal, business, marketing, and a wide variety of messaging uses.
The long and short of it is that the features of SMS text messaging makes it an easy, inexpensive, and thus, universal way to send text messages.
SMS Valet® by TEZ is based on the SMS system and is the world’s first paperless valet system. With this patent-pending technology, you can streamline operations and expedite the valet process. Our mobile valet system relies on Text Messages for vehicle registration, so no paper tickets are needed. Unlike other mobile apps, SMS Valet® lets guests request their vehicles by simply replying to the Welcome text message they receive at check-in. That’s it!
To learn more about SMS Valet® by TEZ, visit us at https://smsvalet.com/features/ today!
