Here is some advanced notice of a interruptions to the SMS server for users outside of North America.
I use an MVNO who is switching core providers. Normally this would be nothing more than me stopping the server, swapping SIM and restarting the server. However, the new core provider has a very poor signal at my QTH and the local NIMBYs don’t want any new masts. In this case I need to switch to a new provider who has a decent signal. This means I need to port the old SMS number and this can take upto 48hrs during which there will be no SMS spotting capability.
I’ll try to get this done mid-week, probably next week and will announce nearer the time when this is happening.
The SMS spotter is running again on the new SIM. Outbound messages from the server to me are instant but inbound SMS are taking some time to arrive. I don’t know why but I’ll monitor this.
Well somewhere, someone is not a happy bunny. There are periods of significant delay in reception of inbound messages. I’ve not found out if this with the service provider used on the receive side or with my own mobile provider. Suffice to say, a test message sent 45mins back has not appeared yet. It was like this yesterday but by 2000Z seemed to be working again with messages arriving within seconds of being sent.
As I type this the test message has arrived, 46mins from send to receive. Not really good enough. Now G4ASA’s spot has turned up as well dated “14/01/30,10:47:03+00”
It’s working, but is very laggy. Watch this space for updates.
When I tried registering for the sota mapping project, despite a message saying a confirmation Email had been sent, nothing was received. This is why I repeated the process 4 or 5 times in case I`d done something wrong, but still no confirmation Email, so I gave up. Out of the blue 3 days later I had the confirmation Email and completed the registration process. The emails kept arriving over the next few days, I think the final one was a whole week after registering. So much for “snail mail” being slower.
What’s annoying Steve is the number transfered from ASDAmobile(Vodaphone) to SainsburyMobile(Vodaphone). It’s not like the SMS goes to one provider and gets bounced to another. Exactly the same company handles it as before. The dongle says it’s registered on the correct network and has a FB signal and everything is tickety-boo. If I ask it to send an SMS to me, I can hit return and within 10secs I get the SMS on my phone.
I tried it with a pure Vodaphone SIM last night when it seemed a bit ropey and that had no delay. That opens a huge bag of worms though. The purpose of porting the number was so that 275 users didn’t have to change the number they are using.
Grrr!
Sorry you’ve been having problems there Steve. The SMP registration emails are sent within milliseconds, and should have arrived in your email inbox within a few seconds. A few others have had similar problems, but all I can say to them is: it’s a mail transport problem which is beyond my control, so just wait until the email arrives.
We live in interesting times. Vodaphone Network Status tools shows a network problem in my area and apologises for intermittent service yesterday during upgrades. Just my luck to pick the same day to switch phone numbers as the network decides to do some upgrades and then break on the following day.
An attempt to send from the spotter gives a “no service” error even though showing a signal on the meter and claiming it’s registered.
wondered why I had no takers on 7.092 SSB this morning. Seems only one of my six spots made it through the system. Checked my phone and they all appear to be formatted correctly.
Will console myself with a bottle of 18 year old Corndhu with my Son in Law tomorrow night.
Sorry about that Dave. I find the coincidence between Vodaphone doing maintenance and subsequent network issues happening the same time I decide to change things with the system quite unlikely. Maybe I should have bought a lottery ticket as the odds are probably the same.
Anyway it has just burst into life and dumped 12 messages. All of them were timed and dated correctly, they’ve been held in limbo until the network was working again. I’ve deleted them from SOTAwatch.
Some test messages arived within in seconds of me sending them which is what I expect. However, the Vodaphone site says further work is planned upto end of 31/Jan/2014. So it may get borked again. Or maybe not.
