SMS Not Working?

#1

My SMS is no longer working where previously it was mostly OK. Two things happened:

  1. my Pixel 2 was updated to Android 10
  2. I updated to Webcore 21090822.

Any idea which one is causing no messages to come through now? And, what do I do about it?

#2

If you are in the US, there is a daily limit on SMS messages. Maybe wait until tomorrow and try again?

If you are outside of the United States, SMS is currently not possible without using a third party app.
(You can thank SmartThings for that decision)

#3

Did you opt in? Look for the thread in the ST forum.

#4

Users with US phone numbers can text YES to 844-647 to opt in at any time after September 25, 2019 . Anyone who has opted in prior to that date will need to opt in once more.

#5

I just opted-in, and just got a test message that I sent. I’ll see tomorrow if the rest of my daily messages and the problem reports now come thru as they did before.

But, when did this become necessary? And, were we notified about this and I missed it?

What is the daily limit? I’m in the US.

#6

SmartThings pulled the plug on Sep 25, giving us only two days warning…

Currently, the daily limit for a US phone number is 100, as seen here.

#7

Thanks. I did just search the ST forum, and found a bunch of messages about this. Seems that noone is happy with ST for making this change and for the manner they used to tell people.

So, is ST pushing us Webcore users to Hubitat? Maybe it’s time to seriously use that platform.

#8

Yea, it was pretty crappy…

Reducing us to 100 SMS per day is somewhat understandable, but cutting off the rest of the world is just flat out wrong, IMO.

If I was being totally honest, I think in many ways, we may be to blame. Lately, I have seen an increase in ultra-spam pistons, that are really taxing on the infrastructure. (loops, power changes, every 5 seconds etc)

Limiting SMS will only help (at most) maybe 1% of the bandwidth. If spamming pistons are not re-written, or something does not change/grow on the SmartThings end, the next step they take may be more dramatic.

*shivers at the thought*
#9

Just to make you aware, Hubitat removed native SMS from their services this summer.

#10

I live in Puerto Rico and I have a US phone number and all my SMS stop working. i have try to opted-in and nothing.

#11

Ouch!! That might be enough reason to change to another method of doing notifications.

#12

Is there a best-practices doc somewhere that lists all these bad things, and ways to get around them? It seems that if SmartThings is going to take some drastic action based on these bad practices, they should tell you what they are so you can do something about them.

#13

You may want to pay attention to this year’s SDC where ST may make some announcements…

#14

OK, now that it has happened, what did we learn? Other than Webcore going through a new development phase of using their new API that will cause it to not work like it does now for awhile.

#15

Just came across this thread because I had the same problem as the OP. I opted in and got a response. Hopefully that fixes my issues.

On another note. As far as the rest of the world, or for circumventing the 100 limit per day. Couldn’t people just use email instead and just send an email to their sms email address? I know it’s not as direct or simple, but it’s fairly easy to get your phones provider email. That’s what I use for my network monitoring software at home to send me texts.

#16

The restrictions on email are even more strict than SMS…
(I believe only 50 emails a day before they are cut off)

Pro Tip:

As far as I know, web requests and Send PUSH notifications are unlimited…

#17

Well crap then. I’m surprised to know that, usually it’s the other way around.

I usually don’t have more than 100 but I guess I’ll find a different route just in case. Maybe a webhook service. But that’s a discussion for another thread.

#18

I have a “stay-at-home” Android that receives webCoRE’s PUSH notifications… and then in turn, issues any command I wish… Essentially, my “house” actually sends me the SMS… so I bypass any of ST’s daily limits.

Added bonus with this method is using different sound effects for both numbers. This let’s your phone’s ringtone alert you differently to a basic alert, versus an urgent one.