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Slow InReach Message

Like2Hike
over 2 years ago

Today, my wife just received a message I sent on July 28. I had sent a message subsequent to that one, which was delivered timely and I have had the device on for about an hour hike a couple of days ago. I received no warning when I turned device off that there were unsent messages.

Just a heads up.

UPDATE: I still have one message that shows sent on device, but not on website. Wife has not received it. That was the "subsequent message" above.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    when I see the transmit icon on the top of the display, I will also get the warning that there are unsent items. This could be trackpoints, but msg as well.

    However it also depends on what kind of msg. SMS can often have long delay. There use to be few times some problem with the delivery of sms at garmin, but also phone providers have sometimes hard times with sms, particularly from special accounts. We had one provider here who was simply not able to forward msg from inreach. It needed some intervention from gov to make them to fix their system.

    Remember that phone provider do not guarantee any transport of sms at all.

    I get very often email from inreach rather fast, sms arrives 'sometimes'

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    All that the DEVICE knows is that the message was received by an Iridium satellite overhead. The device does get a positive acknowledgement from the satellite for that part.

    Iridium is a mesh network. Message goes from one satellite to another until it reaches one which is in contact with a ground station. Message to ground station. Message via Internet to Garmin servers. Depending on the target address type (iR device, SMS, email), the Garmin servers forward the message on.

    iR to iR does the reverse path just like the inbound message.

    Email just gets sent to the email server for the target address. This one has the fewest moving parts and is most reliable.

    SMS is a mess. Garmin sends it via Internet to a third-party SMS gateway which serves the target number's cell provider. Gateway to sell provider. Cell provider to its network. Network to phone (when it's on and in reach of a tower). If the phone is roaming, other providers are involved. Lots of moving parts and least reliable path.

    Sender can check the "Inbox" on the account at explore.garmin.com to see if it got that far. Beyond that, no way to check.

    Bottom line: There is NO end-to-end acknowledgement. Sending device can't tell how far the message got. And some of paths have a LOT of moving parts. Not always possible to tell where any delay entered the process.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to skyeye

    Ok, good to know.

    I will try email on next short hike where I have cell coverage and talk to her in real time to ascertain what's happening.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to skyeye

    Indeed. Not familiar with governmental issues. Garmin periodically has problems with cell providers who block SMS containing short links. Provider assumes the message is spam because it contains a short link. Garmin uses short links so recipient can access the map with the location form with the message was sent. If this is a problem with your provider, you can suppress the short link (and the associated map) in the bottom right corner of the Account tab on your account at explore.garmin.com.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Thank you @Community.

    I have a similar problem: When I send a SMS from the device to an email contact, it delivers successfully, but, the opposite is failing until I open Inreach Utilities => Verify Inbox. In this case, it searches for approx 10 min to receive all pending messages.

    Could you, please have a clue about this?

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to amtsongo

    Your statement doesn't make sense, an SMS is a phone text message, not an internet email.

    After you send a message, the device will wait for a response for about 10 minutes, if it doesn't get one, it disconnects from the satellite network for about an hour, then will search again. If you send other texts or tracking points within that hour, it will search for new messages at that time.

    I have found the app, IridiumWhere to be useful, it's available at the Connect IQ store. You can observe where the Iridium satellites are in the sky and where they are heading. You can know when messaging will be slow or fast based on where the satellites are.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Like2Hike

    Thank you so much for this information.

    In fact, I was not clear: It's about the internal email.
    You have given much info that I didn't have. Thank you.

    I made a software and maps update on my devices and I have seen an improvement also.

    Best regards.