SMS is the everyday text message: short, text only, and readable on any mobile. MMS adds pictures, video or audio, and costs more to send from business software. Here’s how each works, why one long text can count as two or three, what they cost in Australia and which one to use when.
What SMS and MMS are
SMS (short message service) is the original text message, and it’s text only. One message holds up to 160 characters of ordinary text, or 70 if it includes an emoji. A longer text is split into parts called segments, of up to 153 characters each, or 67 with an emoji, and the phone joins them back together. The customer sees one message, but a platform that bills per segment, as LeadGenie does, charges for each part.
MMS (multimedia messaging service) is an extension of SMS. It carries a picture, a short video or audio clip, or a slideshow, along with a longer message than one SMS allows. The picture may be resized on the way, so it may not arrive at full quality.
SMS: text only. MMS: a picture, short video, audio or slideshow, plus text.
SMS: 160 characters per segment, or 70 with an emoji; longer texts are split. MMS: longer text in one message.
SMS: billed per segment by business texting platforms. MMS: priced separately, and usually higher.
SMS: a mobile service that receives texts. MMS: a phone set up for picture messaging, which Telstra says usually works as soon as the SIM is in.
SMS: confirmations, reminders, replies and links. MMS: messages where the picture is the point.
Segments: a worked example
Worked example: a 140-character booking reminder with no emoji is one segment. Stretch it to 200 characters and it becomes two segments. Swap one word in that 200-character text for a smiley and it becomes three, because each segment now holds only 67 characters. At A$0.11 per segment sent, the rate on LeadGenie’s Growth plan, those three versions cost A$0.11, A$0.22 and A$0.33 ex GST.
To keep a text in one segment, leave out emoji, keep links short, and watch for curly quotation marks and symbols pasted from a document, which can tip a text into the 70-character limit. Check the character count before you save a template you’ll send hundreds of times.
Costs in Australia
On a phone plan, check what’s included. Telstra’s Upfront plans, for example, include unlimited SMS and MMS to standard Australian numbers, so sending a photo from your own phone costs nothing extra on those plans. Telstra: Upfront Mobile Light plan summary, checked 09/10/2026.
Sending from software is different. Booking systems, CRMs and messaging platforms pay the phone network for every message and pass the cost on. SMS is normally billed per segment, and MMS is priced separately, usually at a higher rate. Some providers add carrier fees as well. Check your provider’s own rate card before you plan a campaign.
Replies can cost too: some platforms charge for messages received as well as sent. For confirmations and replies, a few cents a segment is small change. It adds up when you send the same message to hundreds of people, or attach a picture to every one.
What decides whether a text arrives
- The phone. SMS needs only a mobile service. MMS needs the phone set up for picture messaging, which Telstra says usually happens as soon as you insert the SIM. Telstra: set up picture messaging
- Landlines. An Australian landline number can neither send nor receive a text, which is why business texting runs from a mobile number.
- The sender name. Since 1 July 2026, texts sent under a business name that isn’t on ACMA’s SMS Sender ID Register show as “Unverified” instead of the name, and ACMA says people will likely treat them as scams. If you text under a name rather than a number, register it. ACMA: about the SMS Sender ID Register, checked 09/10/2026.
- Replies. ACMA notes that texts sent under a name generally can’t receive replies. If you want customers to answer, text from a real mobile number.
- iPhones and RCS. RCS, a newer kind of texting on iPhone and Android, adds sharper photos and read receipts where the phone company supports it; otherwise messages go as SMS or MMS. Apple: iMessage, RCS and SMS/MMS, checked 09/10/2026.
Which one a business should send
For almost everything a service business texts, SMS does the job: it costs less from business software and it arrives on any mobile that receives texts. Use MMS when the picture says something words can’t.
SMS. Date, time, address and how to change it, in one segment if you can.
SMS, from the number they just rang, naming your business in the first line.
SMS with a short link. The quote or the review page does the rest.
SMS. Short and on time matters more than pretty.
MMS, when the picture is the point and the customer expects it. Or an SMS with a link to the photo on your website, which keeps a short message to one segment.
A link costs less than a picture, but some people are wary of links from numbers they don’t know. Name your business in the first line, link to your own website where you can, and only send links customers will expect.
The Spam Act and business texts
The Spam Act 2003 applies to marketing by text, with or without a picture. Before you send a marketing text, you need the person’s consent. Each message must identify your business, include your contact details and make it easy to unsubscribe, such as “Reply STOP”, and you must honour an unsubscribe within five working days. Unsubscribing can’t cost more than a standard text. ACMA: Avoid sending spam, checked 09/10/2026.
A booking confirmation, a reply to a customer’s own enquiry or a text back to someone who just rang you is about their job. Keep it that way. Once you add specials, a sale or a newsletter, it’s marketing and needs consent, and ACMA says you can’t send a message asking for consent, because that request is itself a marketing message. We’re not lawyers, so take advice for your own business.
Texting customers with LeadGenie
Texts start on Growth, at A$499 a month ex GST plus a one-time A$1,999 set-up, locked in for your first 12 months. It includes one Australian mobile number, so customers get texts from a number they can reply to, plus an AI receptionist on the phone, missed call text back, and reminders and review requests by text. Texts cost A$0.11 per segment sent and A$0.02 received, and answered calls A$0.03 a minute, itemised monthly. Most businesses spend about A$30 to A$70 a month on these (an estimate). How phone numbers and texts work
Nothing below Growth sends texts. The Smart Tools plans and Starter carry no phone number, so reminders and alerts go by email, and there’s no usage bill. Get Connected, at A$89 a month ex GST, puts web chat, Facebook, Instagram and email in one inbox, but it doesn’t send SMS. Weighing up texting against chat on your website? Read click-to-text or web chat.
Picture messages: our published texting prices are for text messages, billed per segment, and our pages don’t list MMS. If sending photos by text matters to your business, ask us before you choose a plan. Want callers you miss to get a text back from your business number? See missed call text back, included on Growth.
Questions about SMS and MMS
What does MMS stand for?
MMS stands for multimedia messaging service. It’s an extension of the ordinary text message, SMS, that can carry a picture, a short video or audio clip, or a slideshow of images, with a longer message than one SMS allows. It needs the phone to be set up for picture messaging, which Telstra says usually happens as soon as the SIM goes in. Sent from business software, it costs more than an SMS.
Why did one text count as two or three messages?
Because it ran past one segment. A standard SMS holds 160 characters, or 70 if it contains an emoji. Longer texts are split into segments of 153 characters, or 67 with an emoji, and platforms that bill per segment charge for each one. The customer still sees a single message. Trim the text, drop the emoji and shorten links to bring it back to one segment.
Is MMS more expensive than SMS?
Sent from business software, yes: MMS is priced separately, usually at a higher rate than an SMS segment. From your own phone it may cost nothing extra, because plans such as Telstra’s Upfront plans include unlimited SMS and MMS to standard Australian numbers. Check your provider’s rate card, because prices change.
Do business texts need an opt-out?
Marketing texts do. Under the Spam Act 2003, a marketing text needs the person’s consent, must identify your business and must include an easy way to unsubscribe, such as “Reply STOP”, honoured within five working days. The rules apply with or without a picture. Messages about a customer’s own job, such as a booking confirmation, are different, but naming your business and honouring any request to stop is good practice for every text. Check ACMA guidance or take advice.