Trigger a phone call

[user6476]

Is there a means of having Hubitat place a call to me? For example of the smoke alarm triggers. I’m in the uk if that matters

[HAL9000]

@user6476

place call to me?

More information is needed. What kind of phone service would you have for Hubitat to place the call on? Mobile, plain old telephone service? Or were you thinking a web service somewhere that could be triggered to make a call?

How would a voice call with a canned message be better than an SMS text message? Or is the target of the phone call a plain old telephone service phone?

[ritchierich]

Twilio can do it using my custom driver.

[No Longer Supported] Twilio Notifications Driver - Supports SMS and Voice Calls

Update 12-20-2023: Due to change in US regulations and mobile carrier requirements I am no longer using Twilio and can no longer provide support for this driver. This driver was originally created in May 2018 which ultimately became a stock driver. Since then I have made several additions, so here are the differences from the stock Twilio driver: Have parent container driver that creates children notification devices so you only have to enter the Twilio API once in the parent container. In c…

Unfortunately with regulation changes in the US I no longer use Twilio and cannot provide support any longer for this driver but it should still work.

[EVOLVING.HOME]

Are your smoke detectors part of your Hubitat system? All my smoke detectors are wired directly to my intruder alarm which will then notifies my mobile phone via a GSM dialer. I have an input via a nodeMCU & Hubduino into Hubitat from my intruder alarm, this then signals to the hub that a smoke alarm is activated. From there I can switch my lights on etc using an automation. I wanted to keep them as seperate independant systems given that it smoke detection is essentially a 'life safety' system.

[user6476]

The smoke detectors are Z-Wave. I wanted phone call to a mobile number. The reason for call opposed text is the alert being more prominent

[HAL9000]

Text would be easier to do, and you can handle the prominence on the phone side with special notification tone, etc.

[woodsby]

Twilio should work for this. I currently use twilio for texts, but never tried calls. I am in the US and have an active 10DLC campaign and can play around with it tomorrow after work and post back.
I like the idea for smoke detectors.

Edit: scratch that. It took about 5 minutes to set up. I can confirm that the @ritchierich driver works for voice calls.

Edit 2: I wonder if you get charged if you don’t answer the call. I’m thinking if not, perhaps I can just use the call function to alert me of serious situations. At that point, I don’t need to answer the call - I just know I need to pay attention to my other notifications and/or check the Hubitat. This I will play around with tomorrow after work.

[ritchierich]

@woodsby

I can confirm that the @ritchierich driver works for voice calls.

Thank you for confirming it still works.

[user6476]

Thanks for everyone’s input - and special thanks to Woodsby for all the testing. Hopefully the app you mention will work in the UK

[marktheknife]

In theory it should work, but notice this sentence:

@woodsby

I am in the US and have an active 10DLC campaign

I don’t know exactly how this applies in the UK, but in the US, twilio users now have to take additional steps so that their SMS messages are not blocked by cell carriers as spam.

It’s not as simple as just signing up for the service and then sending texts/phone calls, due to the regulatory requirements twilio must follow to try to prevent spam messages and robocalls.

[ogiewon]

You could use Pushover for push notifications to your smart phone. With Pushover, you could use its Priority feature which is capable of playing Audible, Repeating Alerts even if your phone is set to silent or do not disturb mode. You can configure the repeat frequency of the Emergency notification until it is acknowledged on the phone. I use this feature for my water leak sensors as I want to woken up if one trips in the middle of the night.

[marktheknife]

+1 for @ogiewon’s solution. It’s easy to setup, free, and as others have mentioned, mobile phone apps can get plenty loud and aggressively notify you even without a phone call.

Also @EVOLVING.HOME’s method is probably the only one that should be considered “reliable” enough to use if you really need remote notifications about a smoke or CO alarm.

@EVOLVING.HOME

All my smoke detectors are wired directly to my intruder alarm which will then notifies my mobile phone via a GSM dialer.

Any notification method that relies on hubitat, the internet, another cloud-based service like twilio etc. should never be relied on for a real emergency.

[ogiewon]

@marktheknife

+1 for @ogiewon’s solution. It’s easy to setup, free, and as others have mentioned, mobile phone apps can get plenty loud and aggressively notify you even without a phone call.

It’s almost free

IIRC, there is a one time ~$5 charge per platform (iOS, Android, or PC). At least it is not a per device fee.

[marktheknife]

lol you’re right, of course. It’s been four or five years since I paid that one-time fee so I forgot. I’d say I’ve gotten my money’s worth .

[ritchierich]

@marktheknife

I don’t know exactly how this applies in the UK, but in the US, twilio users now have to take additional steps so that their SMS messages are not blocked by cell carriers as spam.

It’s not as simple as just signing up for the service and then sending texts/phone calls, due to the regulatory requirements twilio must follow to try to prevent spam messages and robocalls.

I used to support an integration at work with Twilio and can confirm they have very strong international support. In the thread I mentioned above you will see other UK community users posting success of using my driver and using the cheaper alphanumeric phone numbers which aren’t available in the US.

[rlithgow1]

@user6476

The reason for call opposed text is the alert being more prominent

You can set a special tone (like a klaxxon) for emergencies like that with Pushover. It overides silenced phones so you know it's an emergency

[teri.schwein]

I use the Woopla service via IFTTT, using a webhook. Automated voice calls can be set for text strings that you provide. There is a cost for the service but it's only pennies for each call. It's been very reliable for me and doesn't require any maintenance for me other than the IFTTT webhook configuration.

[user6476]

Thanks everyone. Think I’ll use Ogiewon’s method and let you know how I get on. If all goes well, I’ll mark it as the solution