On 25 Sep 2014 at 11:16, Herbert Graf wrote:
> On Thu, 2014-09-25 at 16:37 +1200, Brent Brown wrote:
> > At the moment I'm testing this out: poweron, register, send message to=
=20
> > self, receive own message, wait a few seconds and pending mesages come =
in,=20
> > powerdown... seems to achieve the aim, but not a perfect solution (some=
 carriers=20
> > may not allow message to self, wasting power sending extra messages, wh=
o pays=20
> > for them, cell module doesn't appear to know it's own number etc).
>=20
> I'm not sure I've EVERY encountered a carrier that doesn't allow one to
> send a text to themselves, don't see why that would be a special case.
> Obviously you're sending the text, so you'd pay for it?

I checked again and you may be right, the carrier I thought didn't allow it=
 does in=20
fact allow text to self. Yes the sender of the text would have to pay for t=
hese. In this=20
case if the device sent a text to self once every powerup time (10 minutes)=
 that=20
would be 6 x 24 x 30 =3D 4320 text's per month... a high number compared to=
 the=20
handful of texts per day or month the user would typically send to the devi=
ce. A=20
further complication is that it seems most/some carriers don't program the =
phone=20
number into the SIM card, that is to say the modem can't find out what it's=
 own=20
number is. That would be kind of a hassle with this project as there's not =
an=20
appropriate user interface to program a number in easily.
=20
> In my experience, aside from sending a text, another way to "wake up"
> the network is to issue a service request. This is completely carrier
> specific, on one carrier I can issue a "balance query" by dialling *225
> (*BAL). It's completely free and will stir things up.
> You could look into something like the "call forwarding status" GSM
> standard query requests, they may stir the network and are completely
> carrier independent.
>=20
> For example:
> *#21#
>=20
> http://www.geckobeach.com/cellular/secrets/gsmcodes.php
>=20

Thanks, tried a few of those but no joy with carrier(s) here.

Had an interesting discussion with an M2M company about an SMS - cloud - GP=
RS=20
solution, could be easier than I first thought. Messages would be stored in=
 a cloud=20
server (through some kind of SMS to internet gateway) and the remote device=
=20
would power up once every 10 minutes as intended, make an interweb connecti=
on,=20
be able to check the server for messages very quickly (no more=20
store/forward/backoff issues) respond if necessary and shut down again.

Brent.


--=20
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