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Reply to a SMS message sent from an InReach Mini, how long time for is it possible?

marcomombello
over 3 years ago

Hello,

my question is, when i send an SMS to a phone number, he can answer to me only with a reply to my message,

this will be possible for a limited time or will be possibile to reply to same message for months?

this could be helpful for some person that is not very familiar with a web page or link (where is possibile to send directly an SMS message to inReach)

he keep in the phone first message and knows that in the future will be required only to reply to that message (both if it is "old")

does SMS has an "expiration date"?

thank you

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I didn't own an inReach for long enough, but people say it takes weeks before SMS gateway number changed. For sure there is no way to predict the 'expiration date' and it probably vary depends on SMS gateway used / recipient's cellular provider. If you need long term 2-way communication with someone, just send them a preset message occasionally and instruct them to reply to the most recent SMS when they need to contact you.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    The timeframe has nothing to do with the gateway. It is only indirectly related to the gateway number, which is randomly selected for each iR to phone message. In order for SMS replies to work, the Garmin servers record information about each outbound SMS message. This includes the recipient's number, the gateway number, and identity of the iR device. When the server gets a reply (inbound message to the server), it matches the gateway number and the originating number against the table, gets the iR device from there, and forwards the SMS reply to the device via satellite.

    The ability to reply depends on the lifetime of that table entry on the Garmin server. Nobody knows how long this is, but it seems to be on the order of several weeks.

    In order to be sure that people we contact via SMS can reach us, most of us "prime the pump" prior to each trip. We send an SMS from the iR device to each of the people who might need to contact us. This guarantees that each of them has a recent message to which they can reply.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to twolpert

    Yes, I always "prime the pump" before leaving for an out of cellular coverage trip.  I suggest that recipients not delete the message as it will be used to contact me via the "reply" function.