How to Connect via SMS

Owned by Barbara Selak
Last updated: May 16, 2023
2 min read

SMS

With over 5 billion people sending and receiving SMS every day, it is still one of the most popular communication channels. Make your business more accessible and engage with the customers on the channels they really use. SMS requires signal coverage for messages to be delivered, however, messages can be stored for up to 48 hours if the user is out of signal range and will be delivered once the users are within the specified range.

A standard SMS message can hold up to 160 characters, or 70 characters if unicode data coding is used. When more characters are used, messages are broken into parts and reassembled when they reach the mobile phone. Due to its design, SMS cannot handle media file messages like pictures, videos, or attachments - only text characters can be used.

We strongly recommend using the E.164 number formatting. E.164 numbers are internationally standardized to a fifteen-digit maximum length.

Phone numbers must start with a country code, following by network code and the subscriber number. The "+" prefix is not needed. Phone numbers that are not E.164 formatted may work, depending on the handset or network. For example, a Croatian number should look like 385981234567, while a UK number should look like 447712345678.

Long SMS

All SMS messages are charged per message. Long SMS messages are basically broken into several SMS messages and reassembled when they reach the mobile phone. They are charged based on how many messages is one Long SMS message broken into.

The maximum size of a long message varies between mobile networks. We suggest constraining to sending no more than 5-7 long SMS parts. Your account manager will provide more details for a specific network.

Customers

To have an SMS conversation, Jira Service Management customers should have a phone number connected. A phone number saves in the database automatically if the end-user initiates the conversation. Support agents can add a phone number for existing e-mail customers anytime.

Users can request an opt-out anytime. If someone requests the opt-out you should contact your Jira Service Management administrator to delete it. It is simple to do it from the Customers page in the app configuration.

If someone request the opt-out, you should contact your Jira Service Management administrator.

SMS Requests

When the end-user sends the first SMS message, a new ticket “SMS request from 385*********“ raises in Jira Service Management.

The first message received from the customer is visible in the description field of the ticket. Support agents can continue the conversation in the OmniChat section. Only one omnichannel conversation can be active per customer and all messages sent by customers will be added to this request under the OmniChat section.