SMS alerts go through your own SMS provider account: Vonage, Twilio or CM.com. Your provider bills the messages; UptimeVanguard never charges for SMS.
Before you start
You need an account with one of the providers and these details from it:
| Provider | What to copy | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Vonage | API key and API secret | Vonage dashboard, API Settings |
| Twilio | Account SID, an API key SID and its secret, and a Twilio number or Messaging Service SID | Twilio Console: Account info, and API keys & tokens |
| CM.com | Product token | CM.com Channels app, Gateways |
You also need a sender: an alphanumeric sender ID of up to 11 characters (letters, digits and spaces), or a number from your provider account. Sender rules differ per country. The US, for example, accepts no alphanumeric sender and needs a registered number. Your provider's documentation lists the rules for your countries.
Add the channel
- Open Alerting and click Add channel.
- Select SMS, enter a name, pick your provider and paste the details.
- Enter the sender and the number that gets the alerts, in international format (for example
+31612345678). - Click Create Channel. The edit page opens.
- Click Send code. Enter the 6-digit code you get by SMS and click Confirm. Alerts go to the number only after this step.
- Click Send test to check the whole path.
Saved secrets are never shown again. To replace one, type the new value; leave the field empty to keep the saved one. A new number must confirm a new code.
What you get
- Down and recovery alerts, in one SMS of at most 160 characters each, for example
DOWN Acme Shop (shop.acme.nl): Connection timed out. 14:02 UTC. - TLS, DNS and scan alerts only when you tick Also send TLS, DNS and scan alerts.
- No performance alerts.
Limits
- Team cap: 500 SMS a month across all SMS channels by default. A team owner or admin can change it on the Alerting page. Past the cap, SMS stop until the next month; your other channels still alert.
- Per number: at most 10 SMS an hour and 50 a day.
- Codes: at most 3 codes a day per number; a code expires after 10 minutes and after 5 wrong entries.
- Tests: at most 3 an hour per channel.
Delivery and receipts
If your provider does not answer, a down alert is tried again for up to 15 minutes. It is not tried again when the provider may already have taken it, so you never get the same alert twice.
Vonage and Twilio report delivery automatically. For CM.com, copy the receipt URL from the channel's edit page into the CM.com Channels app as the status report webhook, and pick the JSON format.
When your provider refuses a message (for example wrong credentials, an unregistered sender or an empty balance), the team owner gets an email, at most once a day per channel.