Configure SMS providers

This feature will let you categorize SMS providers for different applications and geographical locations. This way, you can let the system pick the most advantageous provider based on the recipient's phone number.

This guide gives you a walkthrough of how you can create, configure, and sort SMS providers for your needs.

Defining new SMS providers

1. Navigate to Main Menu → Site Admin → Account Settings → SMS Providers

2.  Click the lock and enter your password to make changes.

All existing providers are displayed in the list view under the Providers section. If you think that any of your existing SMS providers is missing from this list, please take a look at the “Troubleshooting” section of this post.

To create a new provider:

1. Click + SMS provider.
2. Select a provider type.
3. A form is displayed to let you input provider information. The fields you have to fill in vary depending on the provider type. For more information, please check how to enable an SMS provider in this article. The image below shows the form for defining a new proxy message provider:
4. For each new provider you define, you can also specify one or more application tags the provider should be used for. If you don’t specify any application tags, this provider will be available for all outgoing messages under any application.
5. You can also limit the availability of the SMS provider to certain country calling codes by specifying phone number initials in the “Phone numbers” field. If you do not specify any country calling code, this provider will be available for any recipient number.
6. Click “Save” to create and activate the new provider. The new provider will be added to the existing provider list.
7. You can then change the order of providers (drag them as shown below), and enable or disable (start/stop) them in the list view.

Block Message Provider is a new type of provider to block outgoing messages. If any outgoing message matches the criteria of a block provider in the list, that message is not sent.

How SMS Providers are Selected:

• For every outgoing SMS, the system checks the list of active (running) providers.
• The first provider that meets the criteria is selected to send the message.
• This process is repeated for each outgoing SMS.

Example Scenarios:

1. Event Rule 1:

•    An event rule tries to send an SMS notification to phone number +4670xxxxxx, which belongs to a asset under an application tagged with "ACME Corp".
•     The Twilio Training Server provider meets both conditions and is enabled, so it will be selected to send the SMS.

2. Event Rule 2:

•    Another event rule tries to send an SMS to phone number +6112xxxxx, belonging to a asset under an application tagged with "Australia".
•    Although Clickatell may match the criteria, it is disabled (not running) and will be ignored.
•    Since there are no other matching providers, the message will be blocked by default.

Blocking SMS by Tags:

• If you want to block SMS to numbers associated with assets under an application tagged with "South America", simply add a Block Message Provider specifically for this purpose.

Default Proxy Message Provider:

• A Proxy Message Provider is installed by default during the GpsGate Server setup.
• If you still have the default proxy message provider without any settings in the new SMS configuration page:

  1. Click "Edit" in the list view.

  2. Either specify settings for the proxy message provider or delete it if it’s not used.

Important: If no action is taken, all outgoing SMS will attempt to use the default proxy provider, which will result in failed messages.