On 10/10/12 10:10 AM, William Herrin wrote: > On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 12:18 PM, jamie rishaw <j...@arpa.com> wrote: >> On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 7:15 PM, Aaron Toponce >>> Instead, purchase a cellular USB modem with a standard plan. All 4 major >>> carriers provide APIs to interact with the modems, and you get everything >>> you need*. They aren't cheap (something in the neighborhood of $30/month), > >> If his need is mission critical, and $30/mo breaks the bank .. I'd >> respectfully submit that there wasn't much of a mission.. :-p >> >> I do agree, tho, that an external / serial / mmmmaybe-usb gsm device is >> the route to pursue. > > Perhaps I should explain a little further: > > I have a system in place based on just under a dozen Multitech GSM > modems in a room by a window. It works... more or less. > > It has no provisions for equipment or site failure. The modem breaks, > that number is unavailable. The site fails, that number is > unavailable. The local cell network gets jammed, the number is > unavailable. That's the opposite of "high availability." > > So, I need to replace it with something that offers high availability > for each phone number, aka "SMS long code." I realize that the phone > end will still suffer all the vagaries of SMS. But on the base end I > need high availability. > > I expect this to cost more than throwing a dozen GSM modems in a room. > I won't be offended when it does. >
What about finding someplace offsite and setting up a persistent PPP connection with modems (of the POTS variety) between it and home base? Put half the modems there and maybe a low power Atom server with hooks to send alerts like "connection to home hasn't come back after X redials". I do something similar by having cheap DSL with a provider I don't have any other services with to provide a outside world view of things. I have a POTS line there too that can auto-dial back home if needed. ~Seth
