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If you choose to send text and voice messages using the ChMeetings app, this guide explains the billing that applies to you.
Why Send Messages with ChMeetings?
If you send many text messages, sending from within ChMeetings is beneficial because of the affordable pricing and additional options, such as:
- Available for both free and paid ChMeeting accounts
- No setup is required.
- Schedule messages.
- Dynamic merge fields that allow you to address people by name.
- The option to receive a dedicated number and the possibility to receive text messages via our platform (These can be accessed via Reports > Text History Report > Replies). Please contact us if you would like to benefit from this feature.
Costs
Text and voice messages come at an extra cost and are sent using paid credits. You can always find the available packages in your ChMeetings app account by visiting Settings > Payments and Credit.
Credit Cost Calculation
Text Messages
1 message segment = 1 credit
A message segment is a message that does not exceed the character limits listed below.
Each message segment consumes 1 credit. So, for example. if you send the same 1-credit text message to e.g., 100 people, you send 100 messages, consuming 100 credits.
Credits are calculated according to international standards stipulating SMS character limits as follows:
- Standard GSM - Includes languages that don’t use diacritics and messages not containing emoji.
- Unicode - Languages using extended Latin or non-Latin scripts and emoji fit under Unicode because symbols require more than one character to express. If you have one Unicode character in your message, the entire message is considered Unicode, and the specific limits apply.
Character Limits
Character limits per message are as follows
| Format | First Message | Second Message Onwards |
| GSM | 160 | 146 |
| Unicode | 70 | 64 |
Example calculations:
GSM:
- If you send a 160-character message, you will be billed 1 credit.
- If you send a 161-character message, you will be billed 2 credits because you exceed the 160-character limit. After the first 160 characters, you will be billed 1 credit for every additional 146 characters or less. (e.g. if your last message segment contains less than 146 characters, you will still be billed 1 credit).
Unicode:
- If you send a 70-character message, you will be billed 1 credit.
- If you send a 71-character message, you will be billed 2 credits because you exceed the 70-character limit. After the first 70 characters, you will be billed 1 credit for every additional 64 characters or less. (e.g. if your last message segment contains less than 64 characters, you will still be billed 1 credit).
Counting Characters
When you send SMS messages from within ChMeetings, you can see a counter showing you the number of characters and how many message segments you will be billed for.
Reducing Costs
- Use GSM text as much as possible because the character limit is higher.
- Try avoiding diacritics or non-Latin script if your language allows it.
- Avoid emojis.
- Avoid sending long messages. Using less than 3 segments works for most purposes.
- Shorten links using dedicated services, such as Bitly. Just note that some carriers might consider short links spam, so use links (regular or short) only when essential.
Voice Messages
1 minute = 1 credit, billed per minute.
Any voice message under 1 minute in length costs 1 credit.
Anything exceeding one minute will add 1 credit to the cost of your voice message.
For example:
- A 1-minute voice message costs 1 credit.
- A 1:01min message costs 2 credits because it exceeds the 1-minute limit by 1s.
- A 2:01min message costs 3 credits because it exceeds 2 mins by 1s.