[FAQ] SMS Alert (Text message)

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rbn60604@yahoo.com
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[FAQ] SMS Alert (Text message)

Postby rbn60604@yahoo.com » 03 Sep 2012

I sent a 'feature request' a while ago but, I wanted to see if I could gauge support for it.

Currently alerts are sent via email, its very easy for iphone users who do not have push email to miss or at least not see the alert in a timely fashion during trading hours, constantly refreshing from the email server is annoying and also the emails can be delayed whether its Iphone or Blackberry due to reception issue's....there are also many companies that are moving to 'outlaw' personal email on work computers.

If you have a strategy that you use to enter/exit markets at real time prices, its very easy to miss that price with an email.

Multicharts will eventually have to add this feature anyway, so I'm trying to get things started. Text messages are fast and usually are much more reliable in questionable internet reception areas and to me make much more sense, email is simply outdated for sending a quick message.

Hope we can have this feature added soon. Please comment.

Thanks

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby TJ » 03 Sep 2012

I sent a 'feature request' a while ago but, I wanted to see if I could gauge support for it.

Currently alerts are sent via email, its very easy for iphone users who do not have push email to miss or at least not see the alert in a timely fashion during trading hours, constantly refreshing from the email server is annoying and also the emails can be delayed whether its Iphone or Blackberry due to reception issue's....there are also many companies that are moving to 'outlaw' personal email on work computers.

If you have a strategy that you use to enter/exit markets at real time prices, its very easy to miss that price with an email.

Multicharts will eventually have to add this feature anyway, so I'm trying to get things started. Text messages are fast and usually are much more reliable in questionable internet reception areas and to me make much more sense, email is simply outdated for sending a quick message.

Hope we can have this feature added soon. Please comment.

Thanks
You have to use your phone company's email to text gateway.
MultiCharts is a software, not a phone company; it has no facilities to send text messages.
Your computer is NOT a phone; it does not send text messages.
You can send the message as an email to your phone company's gateway. Your phone company will convert the email to a text message and forward it to your phone.

Your phone company's website should have instructions on how to set it up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SMS_gateways

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby rbn60604@yahoo.com » 03 Sep 2012

Got it, makes sense....the text is messy with it but I understand that it has nothing to do with Multicharts.

Thanks

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby justmake » 14 Sep 2012

Hello,

I agree MC is not a phone company so sending email alert function should be enough.

The problem is the email alert is received several hours later.
Currently I am using GMX email for email alert to deliver, and most of the time I got the email 2-3 hours later.

It might be due to GMX's mail server problem, anybody use other email service will have instant delivery of the email alert?

Or is there any other way we can deliver email through more robust email service like Gmail so we can get email at least in 10 minutes?

Even I can use text to SMS message gateway, if SMTP mail server deliver the email 2 hours later, the SMS will arrive late. Any insight on this?

thanks.

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby TJ » 14 Sep 2012

Hello,

I agree MC is not a phone company so sending email alert function should be enough.

The problem is the email alert is received several hours later.
Currently I am using GMX email for email alert to deliver, and most of the time I got the email 2-3 hours later.

It might be due to GMX's mail server problem, anybody use other email service will have instant delivery of the email alert?

Or is there any other way we can deliver email through more robust email service like Gmail so we can get email at least in 10 minutes?

Even I can use text to SMS message gateway, if SMTP mail server deliver the email 2 hours later, the SMS will arrive late. Any insight on this?

thanks.
Internet is a web of connecting but independent cables; there are many "hops" between source and destination. Any one of these connections can contribute to the delay.

Basically the delay can be at any one of these places:

1. Between MultiCharts and GMX server.
2. Between GMX server and your receiving email account.

You can do this simple test:

1. Open both your GMX account and your receiving email account in separate browsers (so that you can monitor them together at the same time).
2. Next, run an indicator in MultiCharts that fires off an email alert.
3. Monitor your GMX account, take note of the time it takes to show up on your GMX account as a "Sent" item.
4. Monitor your receiving email account, take note of the time it takes to show up on your email account as a "Received" item.

Compare the times: did the GMX delay in sending it out? or did your email receiving it late?

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby justmake » 15 Sep 2012

Hello,TJ,

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried the test you suggested on my desktop.

This time,I got it at my receiving email account right away. But I don't see any record in my "sent" folder at my GMX email at all.

I guess there are some outside environment reasons that will influence the speed of email delivery. Sometimes it will be fast, and sometimes it will be slow.

Is there anyway I can control the speed of the delivery since it's time critical issue?
I saw some post mentioning about using Blat or Stunnel to send email from command prompt, will this solve the issue?

Or having MC to write a text file and use some kind of SMS program to send the text SMS message?

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby TJ » 15 Sep 2012

Hello,TJ,

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried the test you suggested on my desktop.

This time,I got it at my receiving email account right away. But I don't see any record in my "sent" folder at my GMX email at all.

I guess there are some outside environment reasons that will influence the speed of email delivery. Sometimes it will be fast, and sometimes it will be slow.
...
If you received the email right away,
that means there is NO delay on MultiCharts' part. If there is any delay, it happens AFTER your phone company received the message -- it is between your phone company's gateway, and the transmission tower nearest to your phone.

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby TJ » 15 Sep 2012

Hello,TJ,

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried the test you suggested on my desktop.

This time,I got it at my receiving email account right away. But I don't see any record in my "sent" folder at my GMX email at all.

I guess there are some outside environment reasons that will influence the speed of email delivery. Sometimes it will be fast, and sometimes it will be slow.

Is there anyway I can control the speed of the delivery since it's time critical issue?
I saw some post mentioning about using Blat or Stunnel to send email from command prompt, will this solve the issue?
You can give it a try, but I doubt you will see a difference.
GMX is only a "bouncer", it echos the email as soon as it is received.
Or having MC to write a text file and use some kind of SMS program to send the text SMS message?
Whatever SMS program, if the message is not directly from your phone, then it has to go through your phone company's gateway !!!
Then the message has to go through the internet (inside your phone company's web), through different intermediate servers, to the nearest transmission tower to your phone. I imagine the difference would be the same.

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby TJ » 15 Sep 2012

Further thoughts...

First, I won't say email/text alert is a "Time Critical" service.
You cannot depend on the email/SMS as a realtime trading tool; it was never designed as a trading tool, it is merely an "after thought" information tool.

Second, there are too many things outside of MultiCharts' control.
As soon as your logic triggers an alert, MultiCharts fires off an email to the GMX SMTP server. After that, none of the email/text operations are within MultiCharts. You can do another test: Send an email from a Yahoo account to a Gmail account. How long does it take you to receive it? Does it arrive instantly?

Third, the SMS is not reliable either.
Do this test: Get a friend to sit beside you and use his phone to send you a SMS. (do this with a friend whose phone operator is the same as yours, and do it again with one who is not.) Monitor how long does it take for the SMS to arrive. I have had messages that arrive 30 minutes later! You see, when you send a SMS, it goes through the internet as well. The SMS is sent to a central processor, then go through different servers (via the internet) before arriving at your phone's nearest transmission tower. Again, the speed depends on how many hops it takes between you and the sender.

The conclusion: email and SMS are outside of MultiCharts, they cannot be depended on as a "Time Critical" trading tool.

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Re: TEXT Alerts

Postby justmake » 16 Sep 2012

Agreed, SMS is not 100% percent reliable either.

It's better to have other measure to take care of those time critical issues.:)

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Re: [FAQ] SMS Alert (Text message)

Postby albevier » 11 Dec 2020

The last entry in this thread was 2012 so I figured I'd bring it up to date. I'm an IT guy with 35 years of planning, designing, implementing, installing, and supporting PC networks and office phone systems in both the physical and virtual environments.

SMS (text messages) remain, and most likely will always remain, too unreliable a method of communication for trading.

If all you're looking for is a confirmation of a stop triggering, sure, text is fine. But if you NEED to know NOW so that further action may be taken, then no, text is just not made for that kind of communication. Sit in front of you PC and monitor your trades.

Just sayin'

Al


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