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C00LAS1CE
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:55 am Post subject: MOD EDIT - 80 character limit on prepaid cell phones |
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I'm so tired of receiving text messages and not being able to read them because they're over 80 characters, and vice versa. What is the point of this? Why can't they just split long messages up into multiple texts like in the US (and I would assume everywhere else)?? |
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oldtactics

Joined: 18 Oct 2008
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:31 am Post subject: |
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I think it might be your phone - I've had three cell phones in Korea and I've never had that problem. They either get broken up into multiples, or they're sent as MMS. |
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C00LAS1CE
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:48 am Post subject: |
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oldtactics wrote: |
I think it might be your phone - I've had three cell phones in Korea and I've never had that problem. They either get broken up into multiples, or they're sent as MMS. |
I've had the same issue with 2 different phones, both using SK prepaid. Are you using prepaid? Apparently prepaid phones can't send/receive MMS and they consider anything over 80 characters to be MMS. |
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jvalmer

Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:22 pm Post subject: |
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80 characters is usually suitable for Korean users, that's why it's set at 80. I believe in Canada there is a set character limit too, but it is for sure well over 80 characters. I've hit it once in Canada. |
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michim30
Joined: 17 Mar 2009
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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this also depends on the type of phone. i couldnt receive MMS or messages over 80 characters. later i found out that it was because of this cheap, tiny old phone (SK prepaid) that i bought from technomart.
so when i visit korea (for holidays), i always tell my friends to send me short messages only. |
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ssuprnova
Joined: 17 Dec 2010 Location: Saigon
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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AFAIK writing in Hangeul requires the use of the 16-bit alphabet instead of the standard (in the West) 7-bit or 8-bit alphabets. So, while the latter allows for a maximum of 160/140 characters respectively, the former is capped at 70 characters. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 6:15 am Post subject: |
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SK phones are the worst of the 3 providers for prepaid phones. |
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anamika
Joined: 16 Aug 2009
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:31 am Post subject: |
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ssuprnova wrote: |
AFAIK writing in Hangeul requires the use of the 16-bit alphabet instead of the standard (in the West) 7-bit or 8-bit alphabets. So, while the latter allows for a maximum of 160/140 characters respectively, the former is capped at 70 characters. |
Actually, on my SK 'card phone', the character limit for the Roman alphabet is 80 characters, but a mere 40 for Hangeul. Still, (besides being a really good way to learn Korean - you get a corpus of texts to 'analyze', through which you can learn how the textbooks mislead you about Korean ) texting in Hangeul is more efficient, because a syllable block that ends in a consonant basically gives you 'three for the price of two', and because there are so many bisyllabic or monosyllabic words in Korean. I personally find the 80 character limit with English to be painful, and like it's impossible to say anything.
OP, what actually happens when people try to send you long messages? In some cases, people have told me that they got a 'message failed' notification up to 24 hours later (?!), which is annoying. I also have a sneaking suspicion that people sometimes write me and think a message has reached me, but it hasn't. Btw, on my phone received messages slightly over the 40/80 character limit usually continue on a second message for me - but only if the original goes slightly over the limit.
Chime that SK needs to get their act together on this. It's ridiculous. |
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C00LAS1CE
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:26 am Post subject: |
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Swampfox10mm wrote: |
SK phones are the worst of the 3 providers for prepaid phones. |
How are the other providers better? And isn't the only alternative LG? I've been here over a year and I still don't understand how their system works, prepaid or contract. In the US it's pretty straightforward, X amount of minutes, text, and data per plan. There seems to be a lot more variation in the Korean system. All I know is with my SK prepaid plan incoming calls are free and texting is pretty cheap (maybe 5-10 won), and outgoing calls under a minute are roughly 100 won. Calls longer than a minute seem to be pricey but I don't know exactly how much.
anamika wrote: |
ssuprnova wrote: |
AFAIK writing in Hangeul requires the use of the 16-bit alphabet instead of the standard (in the West) 7-bit or 8-bit alphabets. So, while the latter allows for a maximum of 160/140 characters respectively, the former is capped at 70 characters. |
Actually, on my SK 'card phone', the character limit for the Roman alphabet is 80 characters, but a mere 40 for Hangeul. Still, (besides being a really good way to learn Korean - you get a corpus of texts to 'analyze', through which you can learn how the textbooks mislead you about Korean ) texting in Hangeul is more efficient, because a syllable block that ends in a consonant basically gives you 'three for the price of two', and because there are so many bisyllabic or monosyllabic words in Korean. I personally find the 80 character limit with English to be painful, and like it's impossible to say anything.
OP, what actually happens when people try to send you long messages? In some cases, people have told me that they got a 'message failed' notification up to 24 hours later (?!), which is annoying. I also have a sneaking suspicion that people sometimes write me and think a message has reached me, but it hasn't. Btw, on my phone received messages slightly over the 40/80 character limit usually continue on a second message for me - but only if the original goes slightly over the limit.
Chime that SK needs to get their act together on this. It's ridiculous. |
Yeah it is. On my old smartphone (Samsung Omnia 2) it would give me an error message in Korean (the phone didn't have English capability) that I never understood. I recently discovered that my current phone (Motorola XT720) will let me view texts over 80 characters but I have to "download" the message using 3G, which may or may not be costing me extra money. It's such a joke. |
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