SMS Full Form

SMS is basically a telecommunication service which is designed to convey text messages from one cellular device to another. The era of sending and receiving letters has gone since the era of technologies has started to take over the world. It’s been decades since the communication system became dependent upon telegrams, landlines. During the 1980s, the idea of sending short text messages was invented. Later, it was designed in GSM standards. One of the oldest methods of communication is SMS which allows us to exchange a limited amount of informative messages between two cell phones. The first ever text message was sent in December, 1992. Though SMS is still a growing communication system spreading all over the world even in rural areas nowadays, challenges are also becoming very prominent as we are moving towards a better digitised environment dependent upon the internet. Several apps like Facebook messenger, WeChat, Viber, WhatsApp, and Telegram are dominating the market globally but as these are mostly internet-based, it’s not possible to use these everywhere. Places like hills or black forests still cannot have proper roads even where internet connectivity becomes a luxury. 

History and Background

Earlier the days, when cell-phones started to take over the communication market, it didn’t have the ability to send text messages. Nokia was the first ever company to introduce messaging services to its users in 1993. By 2010, Nokia was able to provide the customers its best ever total GSM phone with the specification of sending SMSs. Initially, the response was very low-key during 1994. Even at the earlier days of the invention, customers had the privileges of sending text messages only among the same network operators. 1999 onwards, the limitations have been lifted. 

How it works

As the name suggests, the main idea of improvising SMS in life was to communicate in the best possible way and “fit in”. When a person sends a message, it basically goes to the Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) and then to the recipient. The mechanism is named “store and forward.” The message gets stored first and then forwarded to the other cell-phone. In case of the unavailability of the receiver, there exists a later retry option too. It’s very unlikely to get any type of failed attempts. In some cases, there are some advantages of sending a message only once which goes through the “forward and forget” mechanism. However, it is the best way to send informal messages. 

Advantages

One of the many advantages of SMS-ing is you can reach out to as many people as you want at the same time by just pressing a send button. It’s not that we cannot live without the system but as we are getting more and more dependent upon technological advancement, texting is something like the best effort to convey information.

It is reported that even less than 5% of sent messages over the world face failure even in times of crisis. A call may fail or in times of emergency people may miss a call but a sent text message is the best way to let people know about any important work to remind them. Even after the invention of several text messaging applications through the internet, it has been reported that more than 6 billion messages are being sent every day in the USA.

• World’s First Voter registration System through SMS:

Democracy is dependent upon the voting system. It’s a very hectic procedure to register every voter by going door to door. During 2013, a group named Cactus started working for the Libyan Government. Their aim was to avoid the periodic violence that occur during the offline voting system and keep up the democratic work. 

From 1983 to 2010, nearly 80% of the mobile users have been using SMS services. Though in the beginning it was a part of the GSM, nowadays the increasing demand has incorporated it in CDMA phones. A CDMA phone means the 2G, 3G wireless communication systems.

Conclusion

The mankind is moving each and every second, sometimes before the time. Inventions like mobile phones have become essential items as the other three basic necessities of life. It is no more a trend that one can have the option to avoid. It just takes some seconds and a cellular device and a mobile network of any kind to reach out to several contacts at a time. Life’s been easier than before. Within cutting or interrupting a phone call, SMS can be used to provide important information beforehand. In case of a business start up or regular communicative marketing strategy, SMS is the best way to go forward. It can be used as a gesture to show gratitude.