Method and device for sending short messages

A method and a device for sending short messages, relating to the field of communications, are disclosed by the present invention. The method for sending short messages includes: a radio hand-held device, before sending a short message, determines whether a service channel allocated for a circuit switch domain and/or a service channel allocated for a packet switch domain exist in the radio hand-held device (A01); the radio hand-held device, when determining that only the service channel allocated for the packet switch domain exists, sends the short message though the service channel allocated for the packet switch domain (A03). A radio hand-held device is also provided. The present invention solves the problem of network resources waste when the radio hand-held device sends short messages.