Can't get SMS messages to work at all

[Bill_in_NZ]

Hey there,

I am a new user of the EnvisaLink3 on my DSC alarm. I have been able to get messages to email addresses with no trouble at all, but despite hours/days of trying, am not having any luck getting an SMS to my phone.

I am in New Zealand and when I have tried any of the NZ SMS gateways in the list, I can't even get a PIN delivered. The only luck I have had is when I have chosen SMS Global from the list. When I do that, I can get a PIN delivered to my phone (and have entered the PIN), but can't actually get any messages from Eyez-on to the phone when there is an event on my alarm.

I have been using the number format 6427xxxxxxx (64 is my country code, and 27 the mobile carrier code). What I don't understand is why the PIN gets to my phone from SMS Global, but nothing else. I also am not sure why I have been unable to get any NZ SMS gateway to work at all.

I'm pulling my hair out here. Any pointers would be much appreciated!

Cheers
Bill.

[GrandWizard]

Issue a tech support ticket and we can look at the mail logs. PINs come from different servers than events. Sometimes carriers will block one of our servers but not others.

[Bill_in_NZ]

Issue a tech support ticket and we can look at the mail logs. PINs come from different servers than events. Sometimes carriers will block one of our servers but not others.

Hey Mr Wizard. I think you are right about other servers used for PINs. I have now set up a paid account with SMSGlobal and have enabled email to SMS. But in doing that, I have discovered a problem.

SMSGlobal asks me to nominate an email domain or an email account as an allowed sender. The problem with this, is that all generated messages come from noreply@eyezon.com. So, if I set this as the nominated address or domain, any other eyezon user will be able to send and I will be paying for it.

The only way I can see around this is for me to be able to customize the messages out of the eyezon system to have my email details in the "From" field.

Any way to achieve this?

[GrandWizard]

Sorry Bill, you can't customize your alert messages at this. time.

Just so I understand, are you worried that someone at our company would send you text messages? Who else would have an eyezon account except for us?

[Bill_in_NZ]

Sorry Bill, you can't customize your alert messages at this. time.

Just so I understand, are you worried that someone at our company would send you text messages? Who else would have an eyezon account except for us?

Ha ha, no, I don't think anyone from your company would be so sneaky

What I mean is this...

When an email/SMS comes to me from eyezon, the "from:" address is noreply@eyezon.com. I am assuming that this is true for anyone with an eyezon account who is getting emails or SMS messages.

So, if my account with SMSGlobal uses that email address or email domain to approve messages to a cell phone and charges my account for that use, anyone else who tries to use SMSGlobal as their SMS gateway will get a message from the same sender (noreply@eyezon.com). Therefore, the SMSGlobal server will see a message from the sender that I associated with my account and bill me for the message.

So, in effect, I would be paying for any SMS messages routed through their SMS gateway. Not because your company is doing something sneaky. Simply because this is how SMSGlobal allows SMS messages through their system and how they then charge me as a user.

As mentioned, the only way I can see around this is if the message appears to come from my email address instead of noreply@eyezon.com.

Is this making sense?

Cheers,
Bill.

[Bill_in_NZ]

I just got this responce for SMSGlobal regarding this issue:

Hi Bill
Thank you for contacting SMSGlobal support.
You would need to use a unique email address otherwise messages sent from this email would go through your account, hence you will be charged.
Maybe you can setup a specific email address with the ‘eyezon’ to be used just for your account.
Regards,
Christian Mueller
The SMSGlobal Team

Seriously, how does anyone get SMS working from Eyez-on with a paid SMS gateway account? I can't see how it's possible. This is so dissapointing.

I really wish Eyez-on had a paid service to send SMS messages directly. I would certianly pay for it and it would make all this trouble go away.

Bill.

(EDIT) Here's an idea - what if the system sent out emails from mac_address@eyezon.com? (i.e. 001C2A123456@eyezon.com) This could be pulled from our user accounts, right? That way, we as users couldn't abuse the system by setting up fake addresses and if the emails ever spammed anyone, you guys could track them back to a user.

The benefit is that the addresses would be unique and so we could register them with SMS gateways.

(EDIT 2) I have posted this idea to the feature requests thread HERE.

[GrandWizard]

I just got this responce for SMSGlobal regarding this issue:

Hi Bill
Thank you for contacting SMSGlobal support.
You would need to use a unique email address otherwise messages sent from this email would go through your account, hence you will be charged.
Maybe you can setup a specific email address with the ‘eyezon’ to be used just for your account.
Regards,
Christian Mueller
The SMSGlobal Team

That's insane. Is it possible the person doesn't know what they are talking about?

To be honest Bill, there has been no one that I know of who has had an issue with either their carrier's email-to-SMS gateway, or the use of a 3rd party service. I'm pretty sure there are more than a few threads on this forum from users who are using either a 3rd party SMS service or another type of "push" notification system on their mobile phones.

[Bill_in_NZ]

That's insane. Is it possible the person doesn't know what they are talking about?

To be honest Bill, there has been no one that I know of who has had an issue with either their carrier's email-to-SMS gateway, or the use of a 3rd party service. I'm pretty sure there are more than a few threads on this forum from users who are using either a 3rd party SMS service or another type of "push" notification system on their mobile phones.

So how does a 3rd party SMS service know who to charge when a message comes through their system, if it comes from a generic email address?

For various reasons, I need to use a 3rd party service. Believe me when I tell you, I can't find one that will work with your system. If you can point me to one, I will buy you a beer if you are ever in New Zealand, or I am ever in the USA

[blakem]

Reading this thread I had one thought of a quick workaround for what it is worth. Set a contact up in your eyezon account to email a Gmail account for notifications. In your Gmail account setup a rule to forward all mail from noreply@eyezon.com to your SMS gateway that way you can have a unique email address in the "from" field that would be your Gmail address. Hopefully the extra routing would not slow down the transmission too much.

[GrandWizard]

So how does a 3rd party SMS service know who to charge when a message comes through their system, if it comes from a generic email address?

For various reasons, I need to use a 3rd party service. Believe me when I tell you, I can't find one that will work with your system. If you can point me to one, I will buy you a beer if you are ever in New Zealand, or I am ever in the USA

They use your phone number i.e.

Bill's-mobile-number@smsglobal.com

Anything that goes to your number gets billed to you.

We're in Canada. Go to the USA and hang a left.