SMS

SMS test

Telephone-keypad

Landline text messaging

SMS messages sent monthly in USA (in billions)

SMS Phishing Attack Example

Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component of most telephone, internet, and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols to enable mobile devices to exchange short text messages. An intermediary service can facilitate a text-to-voice conversion to be sent to landlines. SMS, as used on modern devices, originated from radio telegraphy in radio memo pagers using standardized phone protocols in the 1980s.

History

The concept of SMS was developed in the Franco-German GSM cooperation in 1984 by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert. The first SMS message was sent in 1992 from Neil Papworth, a former developer at Sema Group Telecoms. Mobile phones didn't support the service until Nokia introduced SMS messaging in 1993.

Technical Details

SMS messages are limited to 160 characters for languages using the Latin alphabet. This limitation was imposed to fit SMS messages into the existing signaling formats. For other alphabets, such as Chinese, the maximum SMS size is limited to 70 characters due to the encoding used. SMS messages are transmitted via the Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) protocol in the GSM network. In addition to person-to-person messages, SMS can be used to send alerts, notifications, and content to mobile phones.

SMS Services

Over the years, SMS has evolved to include various services:

• A2P SMS (Application-to-Person SMS) - messages sent from an application, typically a web application, to a mobile user.
• Premium-rate SMS - services that charge users a premium over the standard SMS cost, often used for services such as voting on television shows.
• SMS Gateway - allows a computer to send and receive SMS messages through mobile network SMPP protocol for enterprise-level messaging.

Challenges and Decline

With the advent of smartphones, SMS has seen a decline, supplanted by Internet-based applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage. These apps offer more features, including multimedia sharing, group chats, and voice/video calling, often at a lower cost. Despite this, SMS remains popular due to its simplicity and ubiquity, especially in regions with limited internet access.

Regulation and Security

SMS has been subject to various regulations and concerns over security. Issues such as SMS spoofing and SMS phishing (smishing) have led to increased scrutiny. Various countries have implemented regulations to combat unsolicited SMS messages and protect users' privacy.

Future of SMS

While the usage of traditional SMS is declining in favor of more advanced messaging apps, it still plays a crucial role in mobile communication, particularly for two-factor authentication (2FA) and emergency alerts. The development of Rich Communication Services (RCS) aims to bridge the gap between SMS and modern messaging apps by offering enhanced features while maintaining the reliability and reach of SMS.

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