Send SMS text notification of internet or power loss

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doomtomb

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Feb 16, 2015
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Hello HardForum members,

(I'm new here) and recently moved into a house. I'm getting all into home automation and the like but one of the things that really bugs me is if my house were to lose power or lose internet connection, I'd have know way of knowing (other than unsuccessfully logging in to my Netgear Arlo or other remote system). I'd rather have a small device that I can plug in to my UPS that would notify me in the event of either a power loss or loss of internet connection.

In fact, if I could build a device that accomplishes even one of these functions, that would be huge!

Before we delve into reasons, why I would need this, or whether I live in an unstable area or not. That's not really important. Wouldn't everyone want to know this?

I'm not exactly a hacker DIY, no experience with Raspberry Pi, but I'm willing to learn! Ideas welcome.
 
Pretty much any UPS that has software and connects to a PC has the capability to send email alerts in the event of a battery event. In order for this to work though, you'd have to make sure your internet stays up when the power goes out.

I imagine some people choose to do this with something as simple as a Raspberry Pi connected to a UPS that your home router is connected to.
 
Friend of mine just mentioned that to me, about software monitoring built into the UPS. I'll have to investigate that. I think the UPS is an APC model BN450M
Still interested in the SMS text in case of internet outage. I'm no expert on the SIM cards but if I already have a subscription plan to a cellular carrier, then to send text I would need another SIM card, and that would just mean adding another number (line) to the plan?
 
My SmartThings hub will do a push notification when the hub goes offline, which means no power or no internet for me. You can get them on sale for $50, and they do a lot more than just that...
 
doomtomb said:
Friend of mine just mentioned that to me, about software monitoring built into the UPS. I'll have to investigate that. I think the UPS is an APC model BN450M
Still interested in the SMS text in case of internet outage. I'm no expert on the SIM cards but if I already have a subscription plan to a cellular carrier, then to send text I would need another SIM card, and that would just mean adding another number (line) to the plan?
Click to expand...


Unless it was setup to use something like a google voice number.
 
Alright, but I'm looking for something that will send SMS from a network that has failed. So it could send the email but it would never get out, because the internet connection is down. To do that, you'd need to failover to cellular network or have an agent pinging the device on the network, and when it detects no response, send the email (SMS) from outside the network.
 
Full disclosure of products on my network:
Google WiFi router (3x)
Asustor AS-602T (network attached server)

EDIT 1: Ideally, looking for either built in solution to one of these two (that you know of) or build/buy secondary device to accomplish this.

EDIT 2: Found something here.
 
Last edited:
doomtomb said:
Alright, but I'm looking for something that will send SMS from a network that has failed. So it could send the email but it would never get out, because the internet connection is down. To do that, you'd need to failover to cellular network or have an agent pinging the device on the network, and when it detects no response, send the email (SMS) from outside the network.
Click to expand...

So... a push notification wouldn't work on the SmartThings Hub? I suspect there's a way to have that event trigger a text message as well, I just haven't gone looking for it (as they will push text messages for other events as programmed...)
 
If your electrical utility has installed a smart meter on your location, they might be able to setup a fairly fast 'something is wrong at your place' notification. If they can do this, the notification would be coming from them instead of your location without power. Whatever caused the power failure might have killed your ISP connection as well.

As others have noted, notification of the Internet being down can't rely on the Internet. You will need a device capable of cell phone communication. Either add the device to your existing plan or see if you could purchase a pre-paid plan for the device. As long as it is only used to notify of a problem, shouldn't need many minutes/messages.
 
Schro said:
So... a push notification wouldn't work on the SmartThings Hub? I suspect there's a way to have that event trigger a text message as well, I just haven't gone looking for it (as they will push text messages for other events as programmed...)
Click to expand...
I think that solution would work. I'm not too familiar with the Samsung Smarthub platform. But yes, there is an IFTTT applet to do that.

Dead Parrot said:
If your electrical utility has installed a smart meter on your location, they might be able to setup a fairly fast 'something is wrong at your place' notification. If they can do this, the notification would be coming from them instead of your location without power. Whatever caused the power failure might have killed your ISP connection as well.

As others have noted, notification of the Internet being down can't rely on the Internet. You will need a device capable of cell phone communication. Either add the device to your existing plan or see if you could purchase a pre-paid plan for the device. As long as it is only used to notify of a problem, shouldn't need many minutes/messages.
Click to expand...

Prepaid could be the way to go as for messages, but yes you hit the nail on the head, can't rely on the network to deliver notification if the network is down, unless you have an outside agent as I mentioned before.

I'll send an inquiry to my utility provider about the meter.
 
At the sites where things like this are critical, I have the Internet connection equipment on a UPS and the UPS can then send its alerts. Works pretty well. (y)
 
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