I have SMS alerts set up on my Blue Iris install. I currently have and email server set up in the main settings and I am using GMail as my SMTP server. I use the default settings and log in using OAuth to autenticate. I then have 1 camera set up to send alerts to my cell phone using T-mobile. The camera alert settings are On Alert send a text message that includes a single photo to the phone number +12025555555@tmomail.net. I have had it set up this way for approximately 2 years and never had an issue, until recently. I stopped receiving the notifications for about a month suddenly. Test messages would be sent and not received. I could log into my GMail account and I can see the messages coming in and going out as expected. I even spent an hour on the phone with T-mobile troubleshooting the problem, with no results. Then suddenly one day I started receiving the notifications again! I change nothing and confirmed with T-mobile that they didn's find anything on their end that fixed it. Everything was good for about a month until I installed a UPS on my network and my router went down for a few minutes during that install. Now I am no longer receiving alerts. IDK what is happening here and would like some guidence on some things that I might want to check out that I'm possibly overlooking. Thanks in advance for any help, I greatly appreciate it!

*Edit*

Added some screen captures to hopefully explain myself better.

Probably not much help, but since no one has replied:
My cellphone provider (NOT T-Mobile) refuses to accept SMS from a Gmail account. They sort of deny it but many posts about SMS messages not showing up although the Gmail account says it was sent. I tried a couple of other email SMTP's before I found one that is reliable. I don't use BI to send the emails, I examine the log file for keywords and then send the email with mailsend-go. Not a bad way to test emails.

louyo wrote: ↑Tue Aug 08, 2023 11:28 pm Probably not much help, but since no one has replied:
My cellphone provider (NOT T-Mobile) refuses to accept SMS from a Gmail account. They sort of deny it but many posts about SMS messages not showing up although the Gmail account says it was sent. I tried a couple of other email SMTP's before I found one that is reliable. I don't use BI to send the emails, I examine the log file for keywords and then send the email with mailsend-go. Not a bad way to test emails.

Thank you for this suggestion. I will give it a shot in the name of troubleshooting.

***UPDATE***

So things are working exactly as they should be. I have not made any other changes to settings since posting and now I am suddenly receiving notifications again.

T-Mobile's (and perhaps other carrier's) email-to-phone is not reliable and may go away. One explanation of the problem I've heard is that the FCC has mandated that carriers scan these messages for spam. The systems are not up to the task. I'm in search of something that will reliably send SMS/MMS messages from Blue Iris. (Is Telegram the answer?)

What follows is part of an email that I sent to Blue Iris support. Ken's response was:
Message to Blue Iris support:
> I am a T Mobile customer and their SMS/MMS support is probably going away and is currently not working. At present alerts from my BI Gmail account are not going through (bounced with server temporarily unavailable and one of 451 4.2.0, 452 4.1.0, or 550 5.1.1 errors).
>
> When it did work, the alerts were frequently delayed.
>
> I also get emails on alerts, but the SMS/MMS alerts are much more useful.
>
> Other T Mobile customers are having similar issues with their "automated" messages sent to tmomail.net.
>
> This T Mobile article indicates that their tmomail.net support may eventually go away ("non-consumer" is a confusing term, but it includes BlueIris SMS/MMS alerts), see excerpt:
>
> The e-mail to text gateway is a legacy system that may eventually be decommissioned in the future. It is designed for low volume consumer traffic only and cannot handle a significant volume of messages. For that reason, all non-consumer messaging is prohibited on the e-mail to text gateway, and even high volume consumer messaging may be blocked as it can impact the system's ability to handle messages for all customers. If you need to send non-consumer or high-volume consumer messaging, work with an aggregator as their connections can handle these message volumes.
>
> They do allow SMS messages from approved aggregators.
>
> There are a range of independent reputable companies offering messaging services on the sanctioned path that may suit your needs. We recommend you reach out to Kaleyra, Infobip, Sinch, Vibes Media, Twilio, or Cisco directly.
>
> I tried to find references to people who used these services and a quick search only found Twilio, which has a low cost per message. The problems with all the systems that I looked at: the messages would probably need to be sent via an API and the BI user would need to set up an account with the provider and have that account info known to BI.
>
> Have you any thoughts on this issue? I have an idea that other carriers will also be limiting their SMS/MMS capabilities.

From the TMobile link referenced above:

> 'As the non-commercial messaging space continues to grow, we will continue to improve the messaging experience, while also maintaining the health of the messaging ecosystem.'

So there's the SMS/MMS position. Doesn't sound like it's going away anytime soon.

> 'T-Mobile's (and perhaps other carrier's) email-to-phone is not reliable and may go away.

Reliability is dependent on many factors (usually at the consumer end) and varies accordingly. And the probability of email to phone going away anytime soon is equally as unlikely as text attachments, though MMS is becoming the default simply due to attachment size and content while SMS is becoming less relevant.

Not exactly a very accurate presentation of either scenario above -- and mixing apples and oranges relative to the original post to convolute the subject(s) even further.

There are many variables involved with attaching a Blue Iris .jpg to an email for receipt by a cell phone. The carrier is only one such variable and usually easy to troubleshoot if one understands the process and associated technology end-to-end..., with particular attention to detail required for the consumer end of what everyone all to frequently likes to blame on the carrier. "Nothing changed on our end honey. The carrier must have done something that switched my ringtone and downloaded the porn." Uh, huh. Happens all the time.

A Blue Iris rig is attached by whatever means to God only knows what kind of home network architecture put together by whatever skillset and/or experience was available at the time for the task, then to an ISP followed by a cloud email service and all of the sudden Blue Iris alerts quit arriving to your cell phone. Hmmm. Must be the data carrier. Better check Reddit for confirmation. (Or better yet, open a BI support ticket.)

Throughput itself on any scale beyond localized or perhaps areawide conditions is rarely an issue except the occasional nominal delays inherent to data carrier technology. Changes to phone configurations (intentional or unintentional) is much more likely to cause stuff to not work right. Throw in Windows updates, and heaven forbid, a Blue Iris update, and all bets are off on any of it working right afterward.

But like a miracle a month later everything started working perfectly again with no changes whatsoever until a new piece was added to the home network, and...,

..., damned data carrier again. (Ok. Just a little exaggeration there. LOL)

I use Verizon. Gmail. And dedicated, responsibly maintained IMAP account for alerts only. Wi-Fi when I'm on my home network which switches to Verizon data at the end of my driveway. My WI-Fi alerts are nearly instantaneous. Verizon data alerts aren't quite that fast, but perfectly acceptable by any reasonable standard at just a few seconds at worst. Even when I pull into the driveway with my phone still on Verizon, I'll still receive an alert by the time I get to the garage as the phone detects and switches to Wi-Fi. Not that I don't occasionally experience longer Verizon delays (usually related to signal strength or quality), but I'll take that any day over any of the other solutions out there, including the BI app push notifications themselves which seem to have their own delay issues on occasion.

My simple ass phone alert setup is rock solid and performs better than expected after some learning and tweaking. But all the bases had to be covered at least two or three times (if not more) to get it right. It's all in the details..., end-to-end. Understanding where the carrier fits in is only one aspect and rarely the reason things don't work right.

thechairman wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 3:31 pm ***UPDATE***

So things are working exactly as they should be. I have not made any other changes to settings since posting and now I am suddenly receiving notifications again.

To follow up my previous and fairly abstract post of last evening, the issue does seem cyclical as said to be happening approximately every 30 days or so. If this can be pinned down as indeed being the case, I would certainly look at anything within my particular ecosystem on a similar schedule that could possibly be the cause. But that's about the only clue provided to aid in any type of methodical investigation of the issue. And maybe cyclical, maybe coincidence...

So a few practical angles to consider checking into;

First, T-Mobile does have a fairly good troubleshooting list available that includes quite a few practical tips -- some that may not necessarily occur to a user as even being related to their particular problem, but may well be nonetheless. So if it hasn't been referred to already...
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/device ... leshooting

Otherwise;

1. Stay away from Blue Iris updates if you have a version that works and serves your needs. Run Blue Iris on a dedicated and well maintained machine not running anything else.

2. Schedule Windows updates to occur on a monthly basis under your control and observation. Shut down Blue Iris first. I personally follow up with my own additional maintenance routine with a free system utility that quite nicely cleans the residual crap left over including orphan registry items. I have the Windows defrag utility disabled and only do an occasional analysis of my SSD using third party software. The results are usually green all the way. The spinners are left to the Blue Iris database maintenance routine since that's all that's on them. Point is, I'll pretty much know these bases are already covered if having to troubleshoot anything.

3. Be aware of other device's updates and upgrades. Inspect device configurations and reboot on a practical schedule, but not excessively.

4. As mentioned in the T-Mobile tips, time/date synchronization among devices (and networks) can be critical for optimum performance and smooth integration of services.

5. Know the limitations imposed by the carrier relative to your actual usage. Monitor your usage at both the carrier and device levels to ensure compliance with the carrier policy.

6. Multiple instances of the same alerts can (and eventually will) be problematic at the mail server and carrier gateway when not responsibly monitored and regulated. Stay on top of your triggers and alert configurations and behavior. Some services are more stringent than others about excessive message repetition before imposing restrictions. Gmail is among the more forgiving email providers both from what I've read and in my own experience. They are also one of the most respected and dependable regardless of what the Google naysayers like to claim.

7. Know your cameras, their configurations and primary purpose. Be aware that seasonal changes can (and usually do) affect a camera's triggers, thereby its alerts. Review and re-tune your triggers from time to time anyway just to account for little stuff possibly affecting the performance..., e.g., leaves fall, the road is now exposed with 500 cars a day triggering excessive alerts.

There is obviously more, but the bottom line is the equipment and systems basically perform as they are configured (or mis-configured) to perform by the end user. Yes, changes can obviously occur beyond the end user's control, but it is the end user's responsibility to cover what they can control before jumping to conclusions. The time you spend on hold with a service provider help desk screener may well be better spent investigating your own system thoroughly beforehand.

Just my $.02. I'm by no means anything more than a Blue Iris user with only moderate personal experience on what I would consider a very practical level. Keeping it simple and going from there is what has worked for me and is just how I roll.

Here is at least one, very simple, answer to the problem. Very complete instructions (yes, I know that it is from ipcamtalk)
https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/send-push ... nks.58819/

I have used Pushover without issue. Simply replaced "<phonenumber>@tmomail.net" with "<pushoverid>@pomail.net" in my BI "On Alert" Actions in the camera's "Alert" tab. There is a lot more you can do with Pushover's API interface, but there is really no need if all you want to do is replace your SMS/MMS texts with notifications. Just $5 lifetime for each device you wish to receive notifications. UPDATE: One $5 payment works for all devices of the same type. My singe $5 authorized all three of my Android devices

Based upon this poster's comment it looks like all the carriers will be stepping away from SMS.

Pushover is not for everyone's basic skillset of simply downloading an app and it instantly works. While basic setup is relatively simple, it still requires multi-step API based setup.

It also relies on multiple third parties for its functionality, including the SMTP server of the user's email provider as well as relying on SMS as an alternative method of transmitting notifications from lower level connections when higher level IP data services are unavailable. It can also suffer the same delays as other methods of notification for many of the same reasons mentioned earlier in the thread. If it sounds too good..., but it does sound pretty cool if it lives up to the hype over time. If it does, Google will buy it.

But as also previously acknowledged, there is admittedly a relatively high degree of obsolescence inherent in SMS by today's standards with the broadening of higher level cellular networks. MMS is already doing most of the heavy lifting in that sphere by default without missing a beat, but both SMS and MMS will still be around for awhile.

Here is the "skillset" needed to use pushover for a given device:
1. Download and install the pushover app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
2. Create a pushover account, login to pushover (which gives your phone a unique id for the receipt of notifications).
3. Replace "<phonenumber>@<carrier-email-to-sms-address>" with "<pushoverid>@pomail.net" in the BI "On Alert" Actions in the camera's "Alert" tab.

Do this for each device you need to receive notifications (you only need to login to pushover if you have already created an account).

For each device you get 30-days free use. To continue use pay $5 for a lifetime license.

Pushover is more than 10 years old, and used by over 3/4 million users