SMS Sign Up
This page introduces SMS sign up for subscribers.
What is SMS Sign Up?
VAULT offers the convenience of delivering Wi-Fi passwords to subscribers via SMS. To utilize this feature, please contact your VAULT Account Manager. The VAULT team must complete an SMS number registration, which can take up to thirty days to receive.
How To Configure SMS Sign Up
To enable SMS sign up for subscribers, you must first configure a unit and service plan tailored for SMS-based registrations. Subscribers wishing to sign up will simply need to send a two-word text message to your designated phone number. The first word of the message will determine the service plan, and the second message will determine the unit or VLAN.
Configuring the Service Plan
When configuring a service plan, enter the word you want to be associated with this service plan in the SMS Code field. For example, "free."
Configuring the Unit
SMS-based sign ups are considered Guest Subscriptions. VAULT needs a VLAN assigned to a unit in order to properly place a device, using a Wi-Fi password generated from an SMS-based sign up, on the correct VLAN. While there are a few configuration methods available, the recommended setup is as follows.
Add a unit to your "Global" venue. This is a venue that the VAULT team will have created in your environment.
For this purpose, be sure to select Guest Subscription. If doing a CSV upload select "localwirelessonly."
For the SMS Code, enter the second half of the two-word message you want subscribers to send. For example, "WiFi."
Ensure that the VLAN associated with the unit is configured at all of your Venues with client isolation enabled.
How to Use SMS Sign Up
In this example, VAULT is configured to receive the SMS message "Free WiFi" at the phone number your VAULT Account Manager provided. When the message is sent to your phone number, the first word indicates the subscriber's chosen service plan, while the second word specifies the VLAN, via the unit, where the subscriber's devices will be placed.
What Happens If a Subscriber Signs Up Again Later?
Because VAULT stores subscriber's Wi-Fi passwords, if VAULT recognizes a new subscription at a later date (using a known phone number that was used for SMS sign-up), VAULT will update the subscription for that subscriber while keeping the same Wi-Fi password.
Here are two additional examples of a user journey to help.
User A
User A, Brenda, signs up for service using the SMS sign up. The Network Operator configured the service plan for an SMS sign up as a 24-hour service plan. A few hours after sending the SMS message and receiving a Wi-Fi password, Brenda decides to use the Self Sign Up Process to sign up for a more permanent, 1 Gbps service plan. VAULT, upon recognizing the phone number during the self-sign-up as the same number Brenda used when performing the SMS sign-up, automatically updates her Wi-Fi password policy to the new 1 Gbps plan. Brenda's devices automatically take advantage of the speed increase, and she does not need to reset her SSID configuration or password on her device.
User B
User B, Tom, signs up for service using the SMS sign up. The Network Operator configured the service plan for an SMS sign up as a 24-hour service plan. Tom signs up for service, uses the Wi-Fi for a few hours, and then leaves the premises. One week later, Tom returns to the site, and again wants temporary access to the Wi-Fi. Tom sends the same configured SMS message to the Network Operator's phone number. VAULT, upon recognizing the phone number from the previous week, simply re-activates the Wi-Fi password for another 24 hours. Tom's device then automatically connects to the Wi-Fi without him needing to re-enter his Wi-Fi password.
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