Messages you send have a delivery status. This will either be 'sent', 'delivered' or 'failed', which we get back from the mobile network about that phone number.
Why does a message fail?
If the text delivery has failed, the recipient won't get the message. The main reasons for this are:
The number is invalid - if you find the text fails immediately, this is the most likely reason. The patient's number might be out of date and deactivated, or the record might have the wrong number.
The phone is turned off for a few days - if the phone is turned off for an extended period of time, the text will eventually fail. For most networks, it will stay as 'Sent' for about 72 hours before failing.
The phone is out of signal for a few days - similarly to the above, if the phone has no signal for around 72 hours, it will likely move to being Failed and the mobile network will stop trying to deliver the text.
The phone memory is full - on particular devices, if the device itself or the SIM card has full memory, the text can't be delivered.
The mobile network is having issues - if the patient's mobile network is having any technical issues, this could also be a cause of a failed message
We don't have complete control over the texts, and at the point you press Send, they get passed over to the network in the same way as a regular text when you send it from your phone. We monitor delivery rates carefully, but aren't able to influence the success of the SMS delivery.
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