Messaging features are available on French mobile numbers, but local regulations impose specific restrictions. These include a ban on bulk or automated messaging, as well as limits on the number of SMS segments that can be sent. French mobile numbers are designed for use by a single, identified user and cannot be shared across multiple users.

Volume limitations

French mobile operators automatically enforce outbound SMS volume limits for each mobile number:

  • 100 segments per hour
  • 1,000 segments per day
  • 10,000 segments per month
Note: These limits are expressed in *segments*. See the section "What is a segment?" below for details.

Any French mobile number exceeding these limits is automatically suspended for 3 months. Reinstatement is possible only under strict conditions. If another breach occurs, the number will be permanently suspended by Aircall and its network carriers.

Important: The character limit per SMS is 670 characters for French numbers.

SMS failing to send

If a message appears in a red box with the label "not sent", it indicates that the SMS threshold (segment limit) has been reached for your number. Once this occurs, new outbound messages cannot be sent until the limit resets.

A WhatsApp conversation screen showing a message thread with a contact named Isabelle. The user sent a message reading “Test” at 11:52, marked in red with a warning icon and the note “Non envoyé” (not sent), indicating message delivery failure

Product restrictions to prevent exceeding SMS limits

Aircall has built safeguards into the product to help customers stay within the regulatory SMS limits. Each French mobile line is restricted to a maximum of 10,000 outbound segments per month.

Once this limit is reached, an error message will appear stating:
“Forbidden Exception: the line exceeded number of messages limit for the current month (UTC)”

Tips to avoid reaching SMS limits

  • Avoid using French mobile numbers for marketing, promotional, or bulk messaging.
  • Keep messages concise and aim for no more than 2 segments per message.

  • Assign one dedicated line per user to distribute SMS traffic.

    Important: French regulations prohibit multiple users from communicating through the same mobile line. Each line must belong to a single, identified user.

What is a segment?

In the telecommunications industry, SMS messages are measured in segments. This system originates from the SMS standard created in the 1990s and is still used today.

  • 1 segment equals 160 characters (using the GSM character set).
  • Longer messages are split into multiple segments but appear as a single message on your device (up to 1,600 characters).
Note: Using emojis, accented letters, or text copied from a text editor may change encoding and reduce the number of characters allowed per segment. In these cases, each segment may contain as few as 70 characters.

When sending messages made up of multiple segments, a small portion of the character count is used to link segments together. As a result, a message that is on the edge between 5 and 6 segments might be counted as 6.

How to find out how many segments you are sending

To check how many segments are in your messages, you can use online segment calculators.

If you have access to the Aircall Dashboard, you can also view insights about how many segments are sent or received per Aircall Number in the Overview Dashboard.

Note: Only segments sent or received after January 22, 2024 (the date this metric was introduced) are included in the Dashboard data.