I intend to migrate my SMS spotter from a server/dongle combo sat in my shack to Cloud based TaaS (telephony as a service) systems.
I’ve got a TaaS account running, tweaked the SMS software and got it running on a virtual machine. In fact from signup to a completed system took 2hrs last night and 3hrs tonight. Tests show it is much, much quicker to spot than the system in my shack. It’s also much quieter as the fans are in Zurich, San Francisco and other bits Europe rather than 2ft from my head!
The number is +44 7903 533046. The existing system is running in parallel. I’d like people to try it so I can see how it stacks up for reliability. I’m only turning off the current system if this works well.
I’ll leave it chugging away and see how it goes. In the meantime I can get on with the database upgrades for more mapping support.
The current system in the US/Canada is all provided free. Firstly Google Voice provides the number and forward the incoming SMS as an email. The server that processes the messages is provided by the PNWSota group. It works very well. The only reason to change would be if Google decide to stop their Google Voice service.
One of the reasons I want to use a TaaS provider is they offer lots of local numbers in many countries. The company is based in San Francisco but offer me a UK number. Similarly I can get a US number from them for pennies. If Google pull the plug then I would get a new number and use that to feed the current system. In that case I’d look into placing the back-end onto PNWSota and have it all in one place. Rather than have 2 servers. Though may having a European and US server adds fault-tolerant fall-over backup. Perhaps that is over kill?
As a thank you to the generosity of the HB9-SOTA group who provided a large donation, I want to provide a Swiss number for them so HB9 users don’t pay international rates. The TaaS provider’s Swiss offerings are still being tried out so that is sometime away. But once it is available I’ll add a +41xxxx access number.
The number of access numbers offered eventually boils down to what is economic to do. SOTA is funded by selling awards and by some donations. As long as the cost of web services etc. is sustainable and not a profligate waste of the funds we can raise, then it seems sensible to me to spend it on providing services SOTA people want. The cost of out-bound messages is cheap and they can be bought in bulk which raises the possibility of extending the system so you can get notifications back for example.
These services are fun to play with and seem to exist whilst people figure out what to do with them. Much like the Laser when it was first invented. I only found out about this TaaS provider as I was investigating Microsoft’s Azure Cloud services. First thing is to see is if “takes a licking and keeps on ticking” and that is a background task. We’ve finished a major software release at work (including moving to a new gcc on the Linux codebase) and the scale of the job has sapped my interest in after work coding in the last month. Now it’s finished and this was really a trivial job to get going I’m all fired up for some database work.
I have used the new number today when activating OE/OO-320 and it worked!
My spots were at 1439, 1528 and 1546Z for the records. I think it was indeed quicker than the old service number.
Which number shall I use in future? Is the new one still in beta test and might it disappear? Will you keep up the old number for some time for users to transition over? Please advise.
Thanks for your time in coding these features and providing this service!
It’s good to know it’s working for you from Austria.
At the moment it’s in beta test. I’ve no plans to stop the old system that lives in my shack till I’m sure the new one is reliable. So for the time being you can use either. I’ll make sure there’s lots of publicity before any of them gets switched off.
I received an email last night telling the account has been suspended for “fraudulent or use outside the AUP” and I had to provide some info about what was happening. Looking at the status page shows 33 inbound messages and the spotter log shows 31 messages. The other 2 were tests when setting up. I have no idea what they are upset by but having emailed the info needed and contacted support I am still none the wiser. Their sales team was quick to try to arrange a follow up call when I setup the account, their support people seem to be swimming in treacle
Until further notice, then new number is not going to work. A shame because it worked rather well.
After what seemed like an age and a complete lack of activity by the platform provider we have some progress. Firstly I received a complete apology for their lack of communications during this time and an apology for suggesting I was involved in anything fraudulent. As a small token they refunded the money I used to setup the account and have provided a similar chunk of credit as well as enabling the account once more.
This means we are back in business.
The number is +44 7903 533046 and this will continue to run in parallel with the existing servers for some time to come.
Not the start I was looking for but we do get to try the service for free this time.
