I agree with what you said. I had continued a slight tangent from the main thrust of the thread and my comment was actually meant in the context of programming and the lack of use of the Notification capability. At present sending notifications is performed by calling the methods sendSms(), sendSmsMessage(), sendPush(), sendPushMessage(), sendNotification() and sendNotificationEvent(). I was querying why notifications continue to be handled outside the relatively rigid ‘capability’ model as there didn’t seem to be any obvious reason to treat then any differently to any other device function. Indeed had there been a move to using the Notification capability when it was introduced we’d probably already have a variety of alternative messaging solutions in use and the changes to the SMS Service wouldn’t have triggered quite the same outcry.
Hmm. That seems overly insulting to American citizens as a group. Although I disagree with the way that Samsung did this, I feel that your ire is at least misdirected and is therefore uncalled for.
For what it’s worth @alwas, the post from (ever helpful) @robinwimbourne included a request for someone to flag it, so as to ensure the thread was read by the ST team. I sincerely hope that @SmartThings ensure he is swiftly reinstated in the circumstances however as he is a core and valuable member of the community here.
His profile says he can come back September 30th
Since the staff that read the posts that are flagged are mostly technical staff who don’t set Samsung policy, I would suggest that in future anyone who wants to get Samsung attention to a policy discussion post to the official Twitter or Facebook accounts. Those are read by marketing people, and are more likely to get passed up the ladder, I think. 
" someone had to categorise it as ‘personal attacks’ instead of the standard ‘inappropriate’ flag."
I get the impression that we won’t be seeing him again on the ST Forum. Which is a real shame. Only on the webCoRE forum from now on, where he himself is a respected Admin. The ST forum moderators need to look at the bigger picture.
A very well made point.
His account was suspended, not banned, so he can return after the suspension if he chooses to. People at SmartThings are aware that this change was abrupt and there will be a follow up message coming. As others have pointed out, most of the SmartThings badged people you see on the community are engineering or support staff and yelling profanties at them won’t help get anything done. Internally this was already being escalated and discussed before he was suspended so it was really unfortuante.
I quite agree Jody, but the manner and wording of the announcement that caused Robin a moment of exasperation, on an otherwise flawless record, albeit with a generic profanity, was not directed at an ST Staff member/engineer but specifically to @SmartThings, and had an element of self awareness. What do SmartThings mean “a small number of people will be affected”? Users in the UK, Germany, Australia etc aren’t as important as US users? Strategic decisions affecting those users have less importance than American users? And why do SmartThings sign off the announcement “thank you, the SmartThings team” ? They are thanking us for disabling the SMS service? Can you see how insensitive that is? What’s wrong with “we apologise to those users affected by this change, and appreciate your understanding”. Simples. I personally don’t mind losing SMS’s, I only used 5 a week whilst travelling, I was shocked originally when I saw they were free, I had to check with my cellular provider to make sure!
UPDATE: We have completed the aforementioned changes to our SMS service. US users may now opt in at any time by texting YES to 844-647 for each phone number set up to receive SMS.
We apologize for the short notice, and we appreciate your patience with these critical changes to ensure continued compliance with legal regulations and adjusting our services for improved support and scale.
What does this change mean for you?
US Customer: You must opt in to continue receiving SMS from SmartThings. You can do this by texting YES at any time to 844-647 for each phone number set up to receive SMS. If you choose not to proactively opt-in, the next time a SmartApp triggers SMS, we will send you an opt in text. You will not receive any further texts from SmartApps until you opt in.
Customers outside of the US: We hear your feedback that SMS is a valued function and will evaluate future options.
We recommend using push notifications to send alerts about activity in your home for the best experience. Other potential alternatives for SMS notifications include:
Isn’t it a little ironic that they ban RW and then link to his thread on webcore as a potential solution for non-US customers? LOL
@SmartThings I think the easiest solution for non-US customers would be to simply bring back the address book so we can direct notifications to individual users. It won’t solve all the issues of no SMS such as notifying family members of emergency events, but at least it creates a simple solution for the majority.
He’s not banned. The situation is definitely not ideal, but when things are not ideal coming together on solutions is the way to go. Name calling and generally abusive behavior is not the way to solve any problems we are facing.
@RBoy any chance of pushover added to your apps? I’m sure Non-US users would be grateful plus you doing it might make others follow you
Since changing its been great pushover is instant and 100% reliable so far
I ranted a bit early on in the thread, but I ended up researching a few options and have decided on an alternate solution. I signed up for ClickSend (https://www.clicksend.com) and for $20 Canadian I have an SMS solution that works for me long-term.
I am converting all of my SMS routines (Classic App & webCoRE) to webCoRE only and am sending Web Requests directly to ClickSend. Using the ClickSend HTTPS GET API, my SMS messages fire instantly.
The webCoRE code is simple. Here is an example:
ClickSend has a free 7 day trial. It worked great to set this up and test the results. They were super attentive and answered all my questions. ClickSend also supports IFTTT.
For anyone using webCoRE who wants to try this, the ClickSend Username & API Key are found in the ClickSend Dashboard at Developers > API Credentials.
Via a webCoRE GET Request using your ClickSend Username and API Key, send your message (string/variable) to your desired SMS number and you’re in business. Very easy.
My $20 CAD will get me 1500+ SMS Messages. I can opt for a dedicated SMS number for approx $4.60 CAD per month, if I want to send the message from a static 10-digit Canadian number, but that is purely optional. I’m not sure what the exact pricing is in other countries but $20 CAD equates to just under 14 EUR and just over 12 GBP (as of 9/26/2019).
I hope this helps.
Want to bring this to the staff’s attention incase it was missed, @jody.albritton
If you can clarify the intended behavior is for the SMS it would be helpful.
Poor explanation of why a service has stopped.
Ridiculous and totally selfish decision by Samsung. I rely totally on SMS messages to alert me to SmartThings inputs. The little alert sound on iPhone is so weak and only “pings” once. SMS continues, over and over again. I’m not a slave to listening to my phone, just in case it sends a message.
A very dissatisfied customer. Having spent hundreds of pounds developing an alarm and smarthome system, only for Sansmuck to stick two fingers up to me and and everyone else outside of US.
thank you @SmartThings for at least considering a return of the SMS service.
Whilst other folk have suggested and may be happy with push or contact book notifications, and other data based notification services, as the name implies - these rely on a good data service to your mobile.
Whilst mobile and wi-fi data is becoming almost ubiquitous, it isn’t - therefor the use of SMS for notification of alarms, emergency action and intruder detection remains a necessity in my opinion.
IMHO, I totally understand Samsung’s SmartThings change of service, after all, I agreed to their Terms (TOC) when I purchased the hub and develop on their free platform. All providers eventually change things, sometimes for the better, sometimes not for all. I prefer to seek alternatives rather than be stressed out each time these providers make a service change.
So, I’m going to incorporate Pushover as a great option to the legacy SMS and ST client PUSH in my ST and non ST applications. This direction, for me, will give my user base a chance to reduce the frequency of SMS messages especially if they exceed ST limits in the future which seems to be the direction of Samsung.
In my short analysis (but not an exhaustive pros/cons list or meant to be a statement of support for Pushover):
- SMS is:
- eventually going away or reduced to a non usable messaging limits
- offers only best effort at delivery.
- limited to 160 characters
- does not support various hyperlinks, images in all devices
- Pushover is:
- it costs $4.99 USD once, per-platform (iOS, Android, Desktop), to use on as many of your own devices on that platform as you want. There are no monthly or yearly fees and you can receive as many notifications as you want.
- robust set of API’s and options, priority, expiration, sounds, etc
- has a robust set of diverse clients
- provides international messaging support,
- grouping of alerts, subscription
- use of industry-standard TLS (HTTPS) encryption for all communication in Pushover, in every step of the process between 3rd party servers and Pushover’s API servers, Pushovers’ servers and Apple’s and Google’s push notification servers, those push servers to your devices, and Pushover’s apps back to Pushover’s servers.
- Each application registered to send Pushover notifications may send 7,500 messages per month for free
Is there a good reason for this…You are supposed to be adding features not taking them away…