University Emergency SMS service doesn't deliver

Ah now you know how I’m forever going on about how Universities, Colleges, Schools and organisations need to implement emergency text services? Well, here’s a bit of news from the University of Connecticut. They’ve installed one such system (provided by emergency notification service, Reverse 911) and they did a test recently.

Predictably, some staff and students got the message immediately. Others had to wait hours — up to 3 hours — because of the creaking infrastructure serving the University.

Well I assume it’s the creaking infrastructure. It’s a piece of simplicity to whack 16,000 text messages through your gateway. Most API gateways will receive those texts at, what, 1,000 texts a second? Then the messages need to be queued into the relevant mobile network for delivery. Theoretically we’re talking seconds. But in reality… well… if your messages aren’t given high priority by the networks, you going to have to wait for ages for them all to be delivered. I’m not quite clear on the quality of the interconnects in America; nor the throughput quality at the cell phone towers serving the University. I wonder if this is something that the team at Reverse 911 can actually influence or whether it’s time for a big shrug and lots of prodding of the mobile networks?

Link: UConn Texting Test Falls Short — Courant.com

The University of Connecticut is trying to work out the kinks in its new emergency text message alert system after a test of the system showed it took as long as three hours for messages to reach some students. Other students never received them.

Though the university has successfully set up a number of other ways to alert students to emergencies, the text message system may never work perfectly.