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Inreach Explorer Text Failure Due to AT&T block

Was in Utah last week and ran into an Inreach issue sending TXT messages to family. I tried sending 3-4 text messages to family to check in but never received a reply. I sent a test message to Garmin and received a reply immediately. Upon exiting the hike I left the Inreach on all night and still no replies. Once I was back in cell coverage I called my family and they never received the messages. They had sent me txt messages and I never received those.

Upon calling Garmin support they indicated that AT&T was most likely blocking my messages due to having geotag information. Finally, I sent a test email to myself and it went through. I proceeded to send a text message to myself and it was not received. I then went into EarthLink and turned off the feature to include location information in the messages and then sent a text to myself. This allowed the text message to be received. Support indicated that I probably should not use the txt message function and just rely on email.

Anyone else having these same issues?

Primarily a heads up to others. My family and I have a 5 pm check in when I am on "risky" hikes and this time they were a little worried.
  • There have been repeated issues with AT&T SMS delivery. Garmin worked around the last one (having to do with shortened links to the web pages which display your location). I have not heard about this one. But it seems unlikely that Garmin can unilaterally work around this one. I have no idea what AT&T is thinking here...

    In general, it is true that there are a lot fewer moving parts in the email transmission path. The biggest risk there is that the email will end up in somebody's spam folder. I have seen that happen occasionally. On the plus side, I have never seen an email just disappear because the email provider just dropped it (rather than deliver it to the recipient's spam folder).

    Certainly would be nice if Garmin published this information.


  • I agree with your concern about the spam folder. My concern is people get so many emails relative to txt messages that the messages may be more easily missed.

    I did emphasize that Garmin should red flag this issue. If one more day had gone by withour hearing, then family might have notified local rangers.
  • Everyone,

    This issue has been fixed.

    If you want to stay up to date on the status of the inReach Network or be notified of any other issues, feel free to check the inReach status page (https://status.inreach.garmin.com/in...s/4f1fgnczxq4p). Also, if you have not already, Subscribe for updates by clicking on the blue button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.