Chat and SMS-text Messaging Configuration options:
Configuring the messaging for each contact is determined by two separate configurations;
the first is the Premium Texting Option (for SMS texting only) in the account-level configuration form
and the second is the Messaging service option in the contact form.
Note: These configurations are only for Chat and SMS-text Messaging and DO NOT apply to emails.
Emails are configured separately and enabled/disabled independently of Chat and SMS-text Messages.
Though the contact form has the option to select the preferred form of chat/SMS messaging, the account configuration form
has SMS messaging options that can affect or even override the contact form options.
CONTACT-LEVEL OPTIONS:
Below are the details for the contact-level and account-level configuration settings for messaging options.
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Email2Text SMS - Free SMS service provided by all major cell service providers/carriers.
Warning: Using the free email2text service is unreliable.
Cell service carriers who administer these gateway servers have no obligation to deliver SMS texts via email2text.
The service carriers can implement filters on their servers that flag email2text messages as being suspicious and can block these messages.
MyCalendarAlerts has seen an increase in email2text messages being blocked.
For this reason, we recommend using a paid service when SMS texting is required.
If this is still your preferred option,
we recommend configuring using your own personal email account using the options
in the configuration form.
Without configuring your own email account, MyCalendarAlerts will use our default email accounts.
However, these accounts send many email2text messages which often become rejected by the service carriers.
Configuring your own email account information will greatly increase reliability as the
service carrier gateways will likely not flag your email address as sending too many texts.
Note: This issue with the gateway filters only affects SMS texting using email2text; it does not affect standard emails.
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MyCalendarAlerts SMS - Provided with MyCalendarAlerts premium account.
Very reliable but requires prepaid MyCalendarAlerts Premium Account.
No other setup required.
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ClickSend® SMS - Personal account. Very reliable but requires prepaid services.
Follow below steps to configure ClickSend® SMS texting:
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Create an account and purchase any amount of prepaid texts from ClickSend.com.
Make note of the phone number.
- Test the account by sending a text to yourself from the dashboard using this SMS test procedure.
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Enter your ClickSend® account ID (your email address) in the contact-form field "Message Service UserID".
Note: The contact-form field "Message Service UserID" can also be used for the PushOver user ID/Key.
Also note that ClickSend can be configured at the account-level in the
configuration form to make it available for all contacts to use.
- From the ClickSend® dashboard, click on the key icon at the top of the page to get your account key.
- Copy/past your ClickSend® account key to the contact-form field "Message Service Token".
- Test your ClickSend® account configuration by sending a text to yourself by clicking on the [Test] button in the "SMS/Chat Messaging service option" field.
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PushOver® App - This is not a SMS text service, but a chat app with exposed
APIs to allow other services push notifications to subscribers.
As of October 2022, the App is free to test for 90 days, then you will be charged a one-time fee of about $5 for the app.
The app can then recieve 10k chat texts per month (likely way beyond the MyCalendarAlerts limit).
This is the recommended option for MyCalendarAlerts and below are the steps to use this option.
- Install the PushOver® app on your phone
- Use the app to create an account on PushOver.net
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After creating the account, got to PushOver.net
and use the "Push a Notification" fields at the top to send your app a message
to confirm the app and account are properly configured.
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After confirming the app and account configuration, you will see "Your User Key" at the top right.
Copy/paste that value into the into the contact-form field "Message Service UserID".
Note: The contact-form field "Message Service UserID" can also be used for a ClickSend user ID
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Next you will need a 'token'.
From your dashboard in the "Your Applications" section, click on the link "(Create an Application/API Token)".
You can call the app anything (e.g. MyCalendarAlerts). Fill out the form and create an API token.
If brought back to the dashboard, click on your app at the bottom to get the token.
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After creating the token, (you will see "API Token/Key" at the top of the application page)
Copy/paste the token into the into the contact-form field "Message Service Token".
Note: The contact-form field "Message Service Token" can also be used for a ClickSend password/token
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OPTIONAL SOUNDS: In the contact form "Message App Sound" field, you can optionally type in any
of the available sounds at PushOver.net/api#sounds.
The typed (or copy/pasted) sound name must be spelled exactly as on this page.
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Ensure you already selected "PushOver App" in the contact-form field Messaging service option, then press the [Test] button in the "SMS/Chat Messaging service option" field.
If configured properly, you should get a chat text on your app.
If you encounter problems you cannot figure out, contact MyCalendarAlerts for assistance.
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Press the SAVE button on the contact-form to save the configuration.
If all went well, you will now receive PushOver notifications for your MyCalendarAlerts!
NOTES FOR CONTACT-LEVEL OPTIONS:
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Texting can optionally be completely disabled or not configured.
In these cases, only emails are sent.
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Email2Text is sent like a regular email, so email account credentials are required.
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These options can be overridden with the account-level configuration's SMS option
"ALWAYS - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE and ALWAYS used".
ACCOUNT-LEVEL CONFIGURATION OPTIONS:
Below are the details for the account-level configurations affecting SMS premium texting options.
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N/A - Account-level paid SMS service NOT available.
This option indicates there is no prepaid/premium SMS texting service available
for individual contacts to use. However, contact-level premium SMS texting service through ClickSend®
is possible as is the option to use the PushOver® App.
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OPTIONAL - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE but OPTIONAL.
With this option, contacts can optionally select the account-level premium SMS service.
Note: This option requires a prepaid ClickSend® account configured or a MyCalendarAlerts Premium account.
See below configuration instructions when using your own personal ClickSend® account.
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ALWAYS - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE and ALWAYS used.
When this option is selected, ALL contacts will use the premium SMS option specified in
the account-level configurations regardless of the selected contact-level messaging option.
That is, this option will override the contact-level option.
Note: This option requires a prepaid ClickSend® account configured or a MyCalendarAlerts Premium account.
See below configuration instructions when using your own personal ClickSend® account.
CONFIGURING ACCOUNT-LEVEL ClickSend® FIELDS:
Follow the below instructions when using your own personal ClickSend® SMS account:
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Create an account and purchase any amount of prepaid texts from ClickSend.com.
Make note of the phone number.
- Test the account by sending a text to yourself from the dashboard using this SMS test procedure.
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Enter your ClickSend® account ID (your email address) in the configuration-form field "SMS Service UserID".
- From the ClickSend® dashboard, click on the key icon at the top of the page to get your account key.
- Copy/past your ClickSend® account key to the configuration-form field "SMS Service Token/Psw".
- Test your ClickSend® account configuration by sending a text to yourself by clicking on the [Test] button in the "SMS Service UserID" field.
NOTES FOR ACCOUNT-LEVEL CONFIGURATION OPTIONS:
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There are no account-level configuration settings for using the PushOver® Chat app.
However, as mentioned above, the account-level configuration option "ALWAYS - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE and ALWAYS used"
can be used to override the contact-level messaging option including the PushOver® Chat app.
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The OPTIONAL and ALWAYS SMS options are only valid if the account has a prepaid ClickSend® account configured or a MyCalendarAlerts Premium account.
These two options are ignored if these prepaid SMS options are not enabled and the contacts will not have access to an account-level SMS prepaid option.
In this case, the rules will apply as if the account-level configuration is set to "N/A - Account-level paid SMS service NOT available"
and as mentioned in this option's description, the contact can still use the PushOver® App or contact-level prepaid ClickSend® account.
ACCOUNT-LEVEL + CONTACT-LEVEL CONFIGURATION OPTION MATRIX:
The below table shows the MyCalendarAlerts policy/logic for determining
how to send contacts messages based on these to configuration settings.
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Configuration Option selected at Account-level
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Configuration Option selected for Contact
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Expected message type sent to contact
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N/A - Account-level paid SMS service NOT available.
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Free Email2Text SMS
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SMS attempted using Email2Text SMS
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N/A - Account-level paid SMS service NOT available.
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MyCalendarAlerts SMS - Requires MyCalendarAlerts premium account
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SMS attempted using Email2Text SMS
(Since SMS not enabled at account level though contact used this option)
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N/A - Account-level paid SMS service NOT available.
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ClickSend SMS - Personal account
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SMS attempted using ClickSend SMS.
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N/A - Account-level paid SMS service NOT available.
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Pushover App
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Message attempted using PushOver chat.
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OPTIONAL - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE but OPTIONAL.
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Free Email2Text SMS
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SMS attempted using Email2Text SMS
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OPTIONAL - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE but OPTIONAL.
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MyCalendarAlerts SMS - Requires MyCalendarAlerts premium account
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SMS attempted using account-level Prepaid SMS account
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OPTIONAL - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE but OPTIONAL.
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ClickSend SMS - Personal account
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SMS attempted using Personal ClickSend SMS.
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OPTIONAL - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE but OPTIONAL.
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Pushover App
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Message attempted using PushOver chat.
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ALWAYS - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE and ALWAYS used.
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Free Email2Text SMS
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SMS attempted using Account-level paid SMS service
(Overriding contact option)
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ALWAYS - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE and ALWAYS used.
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MyCalendarAlerts SMS - Requires MyCalendarAlerts premium account
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SMS attempted using Account-level paid SMS service
(Overriding contact option)
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ALWAYS - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE and ALWAYS used.
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ClickSend SMS - Personal account
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SMS attempted using Account-level paid SMS service
(Overriding contact option)
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ALWAYS - Account-level paid SMS service AVAILABLE and ALWAYS used.
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Pushover App
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SMS attempted using Account-level paid SMS service
(Overriding contact option)
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