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SMS messages don't have a guaranteed delivery time. Even phone-to-phone, I've had SMS messages delayed by minutes or even several hours. Sprint is especially bad with this - on several occasions, my wife would text me as I was leaving work asking me to pick up something for dinner, and I wouldn't receive it until I was home - without the item in hand. Email isn't guaranteed either. While usually it's delivered within seconds, there are so many factors that can delay a message that you can't assume that just because an email went out at 8:03 AM, all recipients fot it by 8:05 AM.

Huh? I don't think so. An email address is an email address. Most people with phones have notifies sent to their phone's sms/mms email address so it comes out as an instant message. People with a "normal" email address may have their client set up to pull mail in only ever 5 or 10 minutes. But the emails all go out at the same time. Well MSN notifies me the instant an email comes in, I load up the page and theres one or more finds at least 45mins prior to the time i got the notify and it happens with many different hiders so its not just one hider giving friends the cache info. An email address is not just an email address, its possible wireless phone domains are in a priority database they could very well be ahead in line. i'm not the only one thats noticed this. I have asked for an enhancement to a feature request that would add automatic time stamping of Publish logs. This functionality would go a long way towards efficient troubleshooting of temporal differences between the publish and notify events.

Huh? I don't think so. An email address is an email address. Most people with phones have notifies sent to their phone's sms/mms email address so it comes out as an instant message. People with a "normal" email address may have their client set up to pull mail in only ever 5 or 10 minutes. But the emails all go out at the same time. Well MSN notifies me the instant an email comes in, I load up the page and theres one or more finds at least 45mins prior to the time i got the notify and it happens with many different hiders so its not just one hider giving friends the cache info. An email address is not just an email address, its possible wireless phone domains are in a priority database they could very well be ahead in line. i'm not the only one thats noticed this.

You've got me a bit confused. The above quote seems to conflict with the topic title. If you only use one email address (and later said you didn't want to have any more email addresses), where are you wanting these emails directed? Do you mean you switched your notifications to send to an email-to-sms address (ie. have it send you text messages)? If so, I can almost guarantee that will be slower than using push email. If you have a data plan for your phone, and your email provider has "push" as an option, that will be far faster than having an email go through an additional server to be converted to a text message. I may be wrong, but that's how I read your post.

You are a Premium Member. Here's a list of benefits: http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=175 1.1. Benefits of Geocaching Premium [updated September 2012] A Geocaching Premium Membership provides you with many additional features that a basic membership does not provide. Whether you go geocaching every day or only occasionally, many useful tools are available to enhance your geocaching experience. 1.Pocket Queries (Custom Search and Bulk Downloads): Custom Search: Use Pocket Queries to specify desired locations, geocache types, terrain ratings, and many more geocache details. Bulk Downloads: Download geocache details for up to 1000 geocaches at a time to your GPS device using Pocket Queries. 2.Premium Geocaches: Access thousands of additional geocaches not available to Basic members. Premium Member Only geocaches are placed and found exclusively for Geocaching Premium members. 3.Group geocaches into bookmark lists: Organize geocaches into lists that can be accessed on your profile page and downloaded to your GPS device. 4.Trip Planner (a.k.a. Geocaches Along a Route): Input your destination and Geocaching.com will tell you which geocaches are along the way. 5.Instant Notifications: Be the first to find a geocache when you receive Instant Notifications about newly published geocaches via email or SMS. 6.Favorites: Sort search results by most 'Favorited' listings and award Favorite Points to the best geocaches you've found. Read our Favorites FAQ. 7.Select your Map Provider: Choose from providers including Google Maps, MapQuest, and OpenStreetMap when using the advanced map. 8.Filter geocaches: Choose which geocache types display on the map or remove your hides and finds from the display using Geocaching Premium filtering tools. You can also view your saved custom searches (Pocket Queries) and create new Pocket Queries on the map. 9.Über Statistics: With Geocaching Premium Statistics, you can view graphs and other dynamic 'info-graphics' related to your geocaching history. Use the stats to mark milestones and track progress. View others' profiles to see how your game compares to friends and family. 10.Paperless geocaching: With Geocaching Premium and a paperless geocaching compatible GPS device, you can view complete geocache descriptions, recent logs, and any hints provided on the geocache details page directly on your GPS device. 11.Access to the Geocaching Live API: Enjoy full access to the Geocaching.com database of geocaches through partner applications and websites using the Geocaching Live API. 12.Access to all Groundspeak websites: Gain access to all premium features and tools at Geocaching.com, Waymarking.com, and Wherigo.com. 13.Audit Logs: See a list of users who have viewed your Premium Member Only geocaches. 14.LOVE! Support the development and maintenance of the Geocaching.com site.

Such organisations aren't going to go towards an in app only solution, and neither should Groundspeak. The problem with in-app solutions is you only see the messages when you're in the app, whereas with an Email solution you only have to log into your Email account and all messages from all services are delivered in one place. Even the likes of Facebook notify you by mail when you have a person-to-person message. It wouldn't be useful for me, and I suspect for lots of others, and unless it's a very trivial thing to implement I too would rather they spend the development time on some of the things listed earlier in the thread. In-app CAN also equate to on-site. They are not mutually exclusive. It doesn't have to be a total move...why not a choice? My bank, for instance. It has both in-app and on-site notifications. It allows me to choose between SMS, email and in-app notifications. Personally, I like having options and I don't believe in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy when it comes to this kind of thing. Just because you might not use it doesn't mean there aren't lots of other folks who would really welcome it.

Yes, access via smartphone is THE way. I know peoples with Garmin Monterra which do not use Garmin software and use Android application - Garmin software have obsolete possibilities. Try to find out the demands on data transfer for simple email and web operations at the message center. Try it when you imagine that in many countries the data transfers at an inclusive price seems like you in America, but it must be quite pay dearly. and install additional geocaching application only for read eventual messages (as another instant messager)? This is nonsense. And another thing - email message can be by simple way converted into a free SMS message! [sorry, translate with help of google]

Better yet, if your phone supports SMS (text messaging) and the service is on your plan, you can set up a notification to send new published caches to your phone. Where you see "Send to another email address:" is where you type in the SMS address. Here is a partial listing of SMS addresses of popular carriers; there are others. You will not get the coords, but you do get distance and direction from your home coords. You can then look up the coords, or if you're not home, call a friend or go to an internet service (i.e. library).

Since FTF doesn't exist as far as GS (and most of the geocaching world) is concerned maybe this is an underhanded, devious (but long overdue) way of getting those people to go away. Plus one from me. One of the premium membership perks is Instant Notifications. In their effort to persuade people into buying Premium, GS states, "Be the first to find a geocache when you receive Instant Notifications about newly published geocaches via email or SMS". Sure sounds like they know the ftf game exists. I also don't think you're right about most of the world not knowing it exists. I'd go on to bet that most geocachers have tried for a ftf a time or three in their caching career...

I know at least one of the local mobile service providers (MSPs) make a free email address available to subscribers, and SMS notifications can be received on incoming email to those accounts at no charge. All you need to do, is to setup a MSP email, turn on SMS notifications, then direct your GC notifications to that email. Voila!

I have had the exact same problem with my GS3 and an 'email account' of {myphonenunmber}@mycarrier.com. My txt message stops at /emailpreferences and tapping the link just takes me to the preferences page and doesn't actually send the verification token because the messaging app on the phone cuts it off. I tried a different messaging app and got the same thing. I suspect that our carriers limit the size of a SMS message and for some reason it is not splitting this validation message into multiple pieces. I noticed in the help area on the Geocaching web site that they do mention the possibility of manually validating an email address if it can't be done any other way. So I emailed them and requested a manual validation. We'll see what happens....

You can use the following depending upon what kind of messaging you have on your account. number@email.uscc.net (SMS) number@mms.uscc.net (MMS) For the "number" portion, you use your ten digit phone number without any spaces or dashes. So if your phone number is 555-222-1234, you would use 5552221234@email.uscc.net for SMS (plain text typically of limited length on CMDA carriers) or 5552221234@mms.uscc.net for MMS (limited to 1000 characters including the email header).

I used teleflip as well until I realized that if I used the MMS messages to my phone rather than the SMS. This let me get around the text limitations. With Verizon this email is mobilenumber@vzwpix.com (SMS is mobilenumber@vtext.com) With teleflip, I had to get three messages to make the information useful, not a big deal if you are limited to SMS. Now I only get the one and, with a web enabled phone (I use a 700P) I just click on the link to go look at the details if it is close enough. I just did a quick search and found this site that gave these addresses; Alltel = xxxxxxxxxx@message.alltel.com AT&T = xxxxxxxxxx@mms.att.net Boost Mobile = xxxxxxxxxx@myboostmobile.com Cingular (AT&T) = xxxxxxxxxx@mms.mycingular.com Einstein PCS = xxxxxxxxxx@einsteinmms.com Sprint = xxxxxxxxxx@messaging.sprintpcs.com T-Mobile = xxxxxxxxxx@tmomail.net US Cellular = xxxxxxxxxx@mms.uscc.net Verizon Wireless = xxxxxxxxxx@vzwpix.com Virgin Mobile = xxxxxxxxxx@vmobl.com I know it is a workaround, but until shorten messages are addressed, either this or teleflip are the most logical alternatives.

I don't even care about the FTF "advantage" so much as just having a notification system that is not 100% dependent on email. It would apply not only to new caches, but to caches on watchlists or bookmark lists being watch, communications between members and logs posted to owned caches. My bank gives me the option of receiviing in-app notifications, SMS or email notifications...or a combination of any of these for various purposes. I know it's likely a trickier thing to set up on the site and is a bit more sophisticated, but it sure would be nice to have something similar. In this day and age, it actually feels a little dated to be so dependent on emails for everything related to GC.

I get published notifications for new caches to my email. I heard you can receive them via sms text messages to your phone. Is this true? When I went to the section to set up all it said was for emails.

sure can, you set up Notification http://www.geocaching.com/my/subscription.aspx Instant Log Notification Feature you will choose "Log type(s): Publish Listing" you will have to set up a separate notification for each cache type though no need for iPhone, you can get the notifications as SMS to a cell phone if you have one, you just have to figure out what your sms gateway is and enter that number instead of your email, otherwise you get regular emails here is the list of known gateways http://www.mutube.com/projects/open-email-...s/gateway-list/

Instant notification new feature request. 1. In addition to have a choice for all cache type (traditional, multi, virtual...) have one choice that includes them all. I don't like having to create 8 different notification when I could be creating one that includes them all. 2. Mail notification is nice but not everyone has portable email and data rates are still pretty expensive in some areas. SMS (text messaging) has been around for a long time and is more afordable. I would like direct SMS plugins into all major cell phone company. (and don't forget about Canadian providers, I use Rogers At&T and SMS receive is free) Message would have to be formatted to be less than 148 Char. Name of the cache, Type, Diff/terrain, owner, distance from home coordinates. Thanks

haha wow, you dug up a 2 1/2 year old thread to ask a question that has nothing to do with the topic (just thought I'd point that out) edit: ok it does sort of - you're asking about publish notifications so you have a better chance of grabbing the FTF. See end of the comment It is a nice discussion topic though, but prime for continued debate... I read the first page before realizing I was reading 2009. That said, Tobias - 1st page response - hit the nail on the head. In my area there are a few "ftf hounds", and we tend to remember who has the best chances of getting them in what areas of the city, closest to where they live. The FTF race does also have its social aspects having that little 'geochat' at gz when the hounds all show up at the same time for the win is a wonderful experience. ETA: Yes, you can set up notifications if you're a premium member. If you have a mobile phone with email, you can set up your primary account contact email to forward/copy emails to your phone. For me, Rogers provides an SMS txt message alert when I receive new email to my phone, so as soon as a publish notification email is sent out, I get the alert on my phone. Then I check my email and get the info. AFAIK Groundspeak doesn't have an immediate push alert for notifications, outside of sending emails.

Okay, color me confused. I was caught unaware of the changes coming today, but can the see the attempts at improving the notification experience, and accept is as a works in progress. What I'm confused about is what Moun10Bike mentioned in the initial post, and that is the ability to receive notifications via text. As far as I've known, the only way to receive notifications has been via email. To get them to my phone I have to enter my number as an email address ( i.e., cellphone#@messaging.sprintpcs.com for me). Is there a way to receive messages via SMS text? Did I miss a memo?

All notifications (currently) are by email. There are no "text" notifications. If you don't have email on your phone, you can use the SMS Gateway for your carrier. Here's a fairly comprehensive list. http://www.mutube.com/projects/open-email-...s/gateway-list/ Bear in mind that you likely will get two SMS messages per notification so be sure your plan includes enough capacity. Also, bear in mind that none of the notifications include the coordinates. You will still need to visit the cache page to get the cache information.

Ten criticisms for the user interface of the Message Center beta. Others have probably made the same comments. Perhaps I'm reiterating here. 1. More than 75% of the page shown in the image below is wasted real estate. This is a poor user interface. 2. The squiggly line messaging graphic offers no significant advantage to its existence. Remove it and the space in which it resides. 3. The "Add Conversations" column isn't in use. Remove it. If it's for use for people with more permissions than most, show it only to those with the correct permissions. Not to the rest of us. If it's an upcoming feature, don't show a confusing, unused feature in the beta until the feature tested and out of alpha. 4. The first time I saw this, I had no idea where to type the message. It was below the fold. Seriously. Why on earth do you have the "Type a message" all the way at the bottom of the page, entirely divorced from the "To" field? 5. Add a "Subject" field. That's pretty standard in a messaging center. 6. Bring the "message content" field just below the "Subject" field. Make the content field resizeable, like post content fields. 7. Make the interface mobile friendly. It isn't now. 8. Messaging is currently divorced from post content. That's counterproductive. There should be a button left of "Reply" and "Multiquote" that says "Message <name>" and another "Email <name>" that includes post reference link and a copy of the specific content in the message. 9. PHPBB provides full messaging, extended to something around 40K characters per message, with images and bolding, etc., in the content, just like public posts. You can also save your messages in folders. This beta tries to approximate something between text messaging at 140 characters and a real messaging center operations like PHPBB. At 1000 characters, it's enough to suggest you might have something to say, but too much for quick comment. Make a choice. Is it like SMS or twitter, or is it a real message center? Please, please, please... Make it a real message center. 10. Y-Slow gives most pages on geocaching.com and forums.Groundspeak.com a grade of D, where A is great and F is not so great. Profile pages generally get a grade of E. Changes to the "model" and "view" parts of interface could enhance performance, even on stretched servers. Many pages take a long time to load, even though I've got a pretty snappy high-speed connection. It may mean Groundspeak servers are reaching or at capacity. Perhaps it's time to rethink more than just the message center beta. It may seem like harsh criticism, but I hope you'll find it to be well-reasoned and honest feedback.

i realize that notifications did not run at all i was refering to your comment above, in the first quote, which seemed to imply that email and SMS are different, so i just clarified the fact that SMS is email too maybe i misunderstood your comment

That's an email to SMS, so it may cut off part of the URL. My solution? You've got an iPhone, download the Gmail app. Create a Gmail account and use that. Why? Well you get the full email, you can keep the same address no matter what phone, or carrier you use, even if you switch. Access on virtually any cellphone, computer, well anything really...

Like New Alltel Palm Treo 700WX with Windows Mobile 5 with EVDO service that I bought for my wife to use as her phone. It's only been used for 1 month. She doesn't like it and went back to her old Razr. Great all in one device for Geocaching, phone plus PDA for paperless caching. I bought one for me at the same time therefore, I don't need this one. Clear ESN, I'm selling for $100.00 plus shipping. As Described from Alltel Site: Service Provider : Alltel Model: Palm Treo 700WX. The Palm® Treo™ 700wx smartphones deliver everything you need without compromise. They combine a smarter phone with broadband-like speeds2, wireless email3, including Windows Mobile® Direct Push Technology4, and rich-media capabilities, all in one—bringing Palm's world-class ease of use to the Windows Mobile platform. Connect with people in multiple ways—by voice, email or SMS. Your contacts are always reachable, from any application. Access email, the web and corporate networks on one of the fastest networks available in the U.S.2, 3 Or relax and play your favorite music and videos right on your device. With these easy-to-use productivity devices in hand, you can stay connected3 on your terms. # Size: 4.4H x 2.3W x 0.9D inches # Weight: CDMA Model: 6.0 oz # Oprerating System: Windows Mobile for Pocket PCs version 5.0 # Display: 262000 colors (TFT) 240 x 240 px # Memory: 128 MB non-volatile. # Wireless Radio: CDMA 850 / 1900. # Battery: * up to 360 hours standby time on CDMA model. * up to 270 minutes talk time on CDMAs model. * Battery Cell Composition: Lithium Ion. * Charging Time: 2 hours. # Expansion: Support for MultiMediaCard, SD & SDIO cards. # Audio: * 2.5mm headset jack is stereo headset compatible—requires a stereo headset adapter, sold separately, for use with standard stereo headphones. * Speaker. * RealPlayer included - requires SD card, sold separately. * Polyphonic MIDI ringtones. * External ringer on/off switch w/ vibrate mode. # Advanced Messaging: SMS Messaging Two Way, Text Messaging. # Digital Camera: VGA with 640x480 (1.3 megapixels) resolution, Automatic light balancing, 2x digital zoom, Integrated self-portrait mirror, Video capture. # Important Features: * Vibrant 240 x 240 touchscreen display. * Built-in Bluetooth wireless technology. * Buit-in 1.3 MP Camera / Video Recorder * Innovative backlit QWERTY keyboard. * Full access to Microsoft Outlook Exchange and POP3/IMAP4 email clients. # System Requirements: * For Windows: Windows 2000 or XP (later versions may also be supported) with USB port, CD-ROM drive. * For Macintosh: Mac OS 10.2-10.3 (later versions may also be supported), CD-ROM drive

You can send an SMS text via email. Here is a list of the address to use based on the provider: SMS List Wiki.