SMS can be used to configure or debug devices. The SMS console on the Onomondo platform allows you to send SMSs to individual SIMs and receive their response.
First, go to the SIM you want to send the SMS to. This can be done by navigating to the SIMs tab, finding the specific SIM and clicking the "Go to SIM" button.
By default, the individual SIM page opens on the Usage tab. To send SMSs, navigate to the SMS tab.
The SMS Console Layout
The "from" field
The content of the "from" field is not that important but it's required nonetheless. It's part of SMS standards and therefore needs to be formatted correctly. Depending on which format you are using - either a number or a string - you need to make sure to meet these requirements.
A number
The number must be a maximum of 15 digits.
Use two zeros, not '+' to declare country code of the number.
A string
Length is a maximum of 10 characters.
Can be a combination of numbers and characters.
Cannot use symbol characters (e.g. "?!") or spaces - this would return an error.
The "from" field is required but in most cases irrelevant.
When is it relevant? If there is any logic on the device that checks the "from" field for validity or security reasons, then the "from" field needs to comply with that logic.
Will my SMS be sent to the location in the 'from' field? No, as normal SMS is not secure and can transmit data and binary directly to your devices. The Onomondo SMS service has been designed to only be available through our network. So the SMS only goes to an open SMS terminal or a webhook set up for SMS responses.
The Text Body Field
In this field, add the text that you want to send to the device.
Online device
The individual SIM page will display a green blinking light next to the SIM ID whenever the device is online. A device is considered online when there is an attached data connection on the network. Even if the device appears offline, it can still have an attached GSM connection, allowing SMS to be sent. Check the network logs to make sure that the device has an attached GSM connection on a network.
Just like data traffic, SMS is not stored due to the often sensitive nature contained in IoT SMS communication - including passwords, device config commands, etc.
An Example of the Console In Action
Here you can see a connected SMS console where an SMS is sent to a device and the device responds with an SMS.
Historical SMS records
In the SMS console, you can see the historic usage by clicking on any of the "Device sent message" and "Message sent to device" records.
The SMS Console is a real time application. When the page is reloaded/refreshed the content of the texts disappear as they are not stored in the database. Only the usage record of the SMS will remain.
Here is an example of the texts above after the browser is refreshed
To maintain a record of the SMS content sent from a device you will need to set up a Webhook.
Sent SMSs from a device will always appear as a webhook event, given that you have set up a webhook URL endpoint.
For more information on webhooks check out:
If you have any more questions, you are always welcome to reach out to our us at [email protected]