Each month, you'll receive an invoice for the calls and SMS you sent during the previous month. For instance, your May 14, 2025 invoice will cover SMS sent from April 14 to May 13, 2025. This invoice will detail the quantity of segments sent during that period.
What are SMS Segments?
In the telecommunications industry (carriers and providers), text messages are counted in units called "segments."
- Definition: One SMS segment contains 160 characters.
- Longer Messages: When you send or receive messages longer than 160 characters, they are automatically broken down into multiple segments by the network.
- User Experience: Despite being comprised of several segments, these longer messages are seamlessly reassembled on your device to appear as a single, continuous message. A single concatenated message can contain up to 10 segments (approximately 1600 characters).
For more detailed information, please refer to our article: What are Segments?
SMS segments displayed on my monthly usage invoice
Your monthly invoice will show the total quantity of both outbound and inbound SMS segments in the "Messages from Previous Month" section.
ℹ️ Inbound SMS are free of charge.
Example:
From the screenshot below, we can see the company sent 163 outbound SMS segments. This figure is derived by deducting their 119 inbound messages from a total of 282 messages.
How to Find Your Sent SMS Segments on the Dashboard:
To view the total number of SMS segments sent:
- Navigate to Analytics and then Overview.
- Select your desired date range.
- Click Update to apply the filter.
- Scroll down to locate both the total number of SMS segments sent and the total number of SMS sent.
In the screenshot, you'll see two key figures: 94 and 163.
- 94 represents the total number of outbound SMS messages you sent during the selected period.
- 163 represents the total number of outbound SMS segments you'll be billed for, which will appear on your invoice.
To clarify, an SMS segment is a portion of an SMS message. Messages exceeding 160 characters are typically divided into multiple segments, with each segment being billed separately. This is why 94 messages sent resulted in 163 billable segments.
For more details about Aircall's SMS, please consult the following articles:
For US/CA based customers:
- A2P 10DLC - Everything you need to know about SMS
- Understanding Aircall's policy: US/CA SMS & MMS fair use
We hope this information is helpful. Thank you for being an Aircall customer.