SMS only packages for Alarm systems.

Geoff.D

Geoff.D

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Hi.
Anyone know of a SMS only contract that is available, any network?
MTN in their wisdom terminated the one we had for my moms emergency alarm system at end august and converted it to a airtime contract, basically making the entire system useless.
Alternatively, what could on replace it with instead of a SMS driven warning module?
Thanks.
 
Geoff.D said:
Hi.
Anyone know of a SMS only contract that is available, any network?
MTN in their wisdom terminated the one we had for my moms emergency alarm system at end august and converted it to a airtime contract, basically making the entire system useless.
Alternatively, what could on replace it with instead of a SMS driven warning module?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
What is the purpose of the alarm system?

I'm investigating methods for electricity going off. The problem I'm facing is the closest cell towers also goes down when power goes off. One can barely put a call through never mind whatsapp messages.
 
lowriderza said:
What is the purpose of the alarm system?

I'm investigating methods for electricity going off. The problem I'm facing is the closest cell towers also goes down when power goes off. One can barely put a call through never mind whatsapp messages.
Click to expand...
We took a standard alarm system which had a remote control and warning system that sent sms messages to family members when my mom operated the emergency control she carried with her. The normal alarm functions were all deactivated. Now with the contract converted to airtime only no SMS are possible without going through a complicated regmarole to load SMS capacity which involves removing the SMS from the unit.
 
How many SMS does or should send a month? The SP should have SMS specific packages, but will have a small monthly cost.
 
Ghost64 said:
How many SMS does or should send a month? The SP should have SMS specific packages, but will have a small monthly cost.
Click to expand...
The system used to send a daily health check to 2 of us, and a weekly verification to 5 people, plus power alarm and restore. So normally, 200 SMS rolled over worked fine.
Now sit in pta, my mom in CT living on her own with no backup.
More than a little pissed off with MTN.
 
Last edited:
Geoff.D said:
The system used to send a daily health check to 2 of us, and a weekly verification to 5 people, plus power alarm and restore. So normally, 200 SMS rolled over worked fine.
Now Ibsit in pta, my mom in CT living on her own with no backup.
More than a little pissed off with MTN.
Click to expand...
What was their excuse for removing the old package?
There’s still 100s of devices that still use SMS notifications.
 
No warning, no discussion nothing. They claim they sent an SMS to the phone, but it rejects all incoming SMSs other than those preceded by a control with code.
These f@cking corporates and their BS make me so mad.
 
Regal Eltro sell an add-on SMS notification device for alarms. A Cell-C SIM with a recurring SMS package for R84 for a year works fine

Used it quite a bit in the past, but its not that reliable
 
Geoff.D said:
Alternatively, what could one replace it with instead of a SMS driven warning module?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Having come from an extremely expensive and complex legacy alarm system that used SMS, today I use this: https://ajax.systems/

The hub/base station can either run off a SIM card (data) or plug into a network.

I am almost 2 years in and have zero regrets.
 
Geoff.D said:
No warning, no discussion nothing. They claim they sent an SMS to the phone, but it rejects all incoming SMSs other than those preceded by a control with code.
These f@cking corporates and their BS make me so mad.
Click to expand...
Ask them if you’re allowed to load a monthly SMS bundle on the sim or if they have alternative sims you can load a SMS bundle on to. They should have IOT type sims available for this.
As I said earlier there’s loads of things that still use SMS notifications, from weather balloons and services, weather beacons, marine bouys just out to sea etc they can’t just cancel all of those. Even POS systems still use sms notifications for various applications. Seems strange.
 
Azimuth said:
Having come from an extremely expensive and complex legacy alarm system that used SMS, today I use this: https://ajax.systems/

The hub/base station can either run off a SIM card (data) or plug into a network.

I am almost 2 years in and have zero regrets.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion. Will look into it when I am in CT again. Do you know of a supplier in CT SA?
 
What about the Mtn app on a phone. Top it up from there?
 
I had an fnb connect contract with only an sms bundle loaded... 200 messages a month or something.
 
Geoff.D said:
Thanks for the suggestion. Will look into it when I am in CT again. Do you know of a supplier in CT SA?
Click to expand...

Yip, Scoop at the bottom of Durbanville Hills has but stock is very low right now. You should be able to put together a basic system though. (Hub, MotionProtect, MotionCam).

In fact, the MotionCam might be a game changer for you with looking after your mom. Data usage is extremely low. If you’re an MTN user, then DataShare is your friend.
 
Azimuth said:
Yip, Scoop at the bottom of Durbanville Hills has but stock is very low right now. You should be able to put together a basic system though. (Hub, MotionProtect, MotionCam).

In fact, the MotionCam might be a game changer for you with looking after your mom. Data usage is extremely low. If you’re an MTN user, then DataShare is your friend.
Click to expand...
So is it pro active or reactive? Do you have to log in to view or check notifications?
 
Ghost64 said:
So is it pro active or reactive? Do you have to log in to view or check notifications?
Click to expand...

It all revolves around a mobile app with push notifications to your screen. Personally, my system is paired with Blink video for visual inspection. Unfortunately Blink cameras have an IP66 rating while the Ajax MotionCam is really for indoor use.

* Edit: Hmm, I see the MotionCam is specifying IP50 now.
 
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