How do I change the default Character Set that my account uses?

You can set the default Character Set that our applications will use when you send a text message.

A Character Set is a definition of which characters (letters, numbers, symbols, and punctuation) you can use when you compose a text message.

Many Character Sets exist around the world to support different languages, and different language types. Some languages, like Chinese and Cyrillic, use ideograms rather than characters within their writing systems.

The most widely used Character Set is the snappily named GSM 03.38 Character Set. This Character Set is used throughout Western Europe and supports most characters used within Roman English-based languages.

This is the default Character Set for mobile handsets. A message that uses the GSM 03.38 Character Set can contain up to 160 characters. If an extended or concatenated message is sent, then messages over 160 characters are sent (and charged for) in parts of 153 characters.

Most ideogram and symbol-based languages, such as Chinese, Hindi, Japanese and Cyrillic, use the Unicode Character Set to accurately send messages with native content. A message that uses the Unicode Character Set can contain up to 70 characters. If an extended or concatenated message is sent, then messages over 70 characters are sent (and charged for) in parts of 66 characters.

To choose your default Character Set, please follow these steps:

• Click on the MY PROFILE button
• Select the CHARACTER SET left-hand menu option
• Choose the appropriate character set from the Character Set drop-down menu
  

You can override your default Character Set setting when you send a message from our online text services by simply clicking on the drop down list (above the typed message box), and choosing the appropriate character set you require. This change is temporary and you will revert back to your default setting for your next and future messages.

For more information, please call our Customer Service team on 08451 221 302.