At high sending volumes, every segment adds up. Understanding how segment counts and carrier throughput limits work gives you direct control over your per-message costs — and is essential to scaling your messaging operation effectively.

Understanding Messaging Segments

Definition: A message segment is a file containing a limited size of message information (i.e. think of it as envelope or vessel for your message). Once your message reaches this information cap (you need a bigger envelope), it becomes two segments, and so on. There are a few factors that determine how many segments a message is going to end up being. The simplest way to find out is using a segment calculator, which we have built into your BONZO account! Every time you create a message that uses tokens, you will see how many tokens (correlating to the segments) it will cost.

Note: Bonzo will calculate an estimated segment count when composing a new message. This segment calculator will also try to identify any special characters that can cause your total segment count to increase with the same number of characters. 

For a message with basic text only (SMS), one message segment is limited to 160 characters. A message header must be used when your message is longer than 160 characters, leaving 153 characters per segment (i.e. "Message 1/2")

Segment Limits by Encoding

Most messages use standard GSM-7 encoding, but including certain special characters will trigger Unicode (UCS-2) encoding — which significantly reduces how many characters fit per segment.

What Triggers UCS-2 Encoding?

Including any special characters outside the standard GSM-7 character set will automatically switch the entire message to UCS-2 encoding. Common culprits include:

• Smart/curly quotes (" " ' ')
• Em dashes (—) and ellipses (…)
• Emojis
• Accented or non-Latin characters
• Non-GSM spaces are usually a result of copying and pasting. Not all mobile phones and carriers support non-GSM characters, so this will negatively affect how your messages are displayed and segmented. Non-GSM spaces are not always easy to detect, so you can use a tool, such as M-Zone’s Unicode Detection Tool, to find them.

• MMS is not limited by characters but by file size. 450kb is the safe limit for sending. MMS are sent separately from SMS to avoid confusion in segmentation.

Understanding Throughput

Definition: a term used to describe how many messages can be sent per second (or in another given time frame). It's frequently referred to as TPS (Throughput Per Second)

All accounts on BONZO are provided with the standard 10DLC throughput limits for respective carriers. Understanding messaging throughput is helpful, as exceeding it can cause dropped messages and delays in message delivery. The limits are as follows and are implemented strictly by the carriers:

• AT&T: 75 Transactions Per Minute (TPM), 50 MMS TPM - this throughput limit is applied at the user level
• T-Mobile: 2000 segments/day (1 segment is roughly equivalent to a 160-character message) - this throughput limit is applied at the team level
• Verizon and other major carriers do not share their throughput limits but are expected to be slightly higher than AT&T and T-Mobile’s standard throughputs.
• Verizon and other major carriers do not share their throughput limits but are expected to be slightly higher than AT&T and T-Mobile’s standard throughputs.

Additional Vetting

If the throughput above isn’t enough for your business’s needs, you can apply for additional vetting. This additional vetting can be purchased for a one-time fee of 20k tokens. The Campaign Registry, a third-party provider, will do a deeper vetting of the information you have already provided and give your company a “Trust Score” to determine the throughput and volume apportioned to you.

Vetting "Trust Score"

Note: Additional Vetting doesn’t guarantee that your T-Mobile throughput will increase,
but your AT&T TPM will increase to 240 for SMS and 150 for MMS.

While the exact algorithm used for generating Trust Scores is not known publicly, particular criteria having a significant role in your score are as follows:

• Corporate Registration Data - validating business license, professional license, company website, etc.
• Business Information - Age of business, size of business, information authenticity
• Legal Histories - legal activity connected to business or stakeholders
• Third-Party Compliance, Complaint, and Threat actor histories through Market Monitor, SpamResponse, PhishFeed, and Threat Detect

Applying for additional vetting will cost a one-time, 20,000 token payment, and a recurring $10/month subscription.

Upon completion, a “Trust Score” will be reflected in your profile, along with your new throughput ceiling.

Continued Education

If you find yourself continually approaching your throughput limits, or you would like to consider more efficient ways to send large message batches, there are a few ways you can adjust your segment usage.

1. Limit unnecessary character use - In the above section, there is a list of special characters that can take up more space than you might realize. Check for these if you think your messages are appearing longer than they are.

2. Use Emojis wisely - Emojis limit a segment length to 70 characters instead of the standard 160. If you have a message with one emoji that is 71 characters long, consider editing the message down or removing the emoji (Emoji’s are definitely worth it though ;))

3. URLs - Use proper business URLs that take a customer directly to the intended link. Business URLs are often shorter than full-length URLs and can save some space.

4. Consider symbol use - Not only can symbols take up multiple characters without you knowing it, but too many symbols, especially consecutively, can cause carriers to filter your message as suspected spam.

5. Get personal! - Oftentimes, a message built for a large group can come across as robotic and include excessive information. Try messaging conversationally and avoid excessive text and spam flags.

Utilize Tokens to optimize messaging content and influence throughput, maximizing the benefits for your automated outreach in your BONZO account.