Cellular Carrier Account Security Verification with SMS PIN

[GSaintClair]

Is there a way to pull an SMS message sent by a carrier from the logs of an MG? or some other method of seeing an SMS sent to an MG?

I have been struggling with getting accounts setup with ATT and Verizon for Pre-paid SIM’s with Data Plans. (Fyi, this wasn’t an issue with T-Mobile) The issue is that in order to verify your account, their systems require that you confirm your account via a PIN sent to the actual phone number for the account, via SMS. In our case this would be sent to the number for the SIM in the MG. The issue is that the MG doesn’t have a display to show the message like the hotspots they typically sell, and both Verizon and AT&T security is entirely based on the assumption that users have either a phone or a hotspot with a display messages, if for no other reason than to verify their accounts in their billing systems.

To save everyone here time, there is really no way around this for the Verizon and AT&T support agents to help you.

Thank you Meraki Community in advance for your support!!

[Ryan_Miles]

In the past I've ordered both AT&T and VZW data SIMs and have never heard of this process. I also have thousands of MGs and MXs w/cellular deployed at my customers and they didn't require this process. I'd go back to the carrier and get some clarification.

[GSaintClair]

I am sure that is your experience, and this would likely not be an issue with a business account, where the SIM's and numbers are managed under a single account. In my case this is a consumer data plan, prepaid SIM which are individually managed with dedicated payment portals for each number. In this case each SIM is managed under an individual account, and can not be bulk administered. This is how Verizon and AT&T on the consumer side of the organization do it. When you setup your account to manage the SIM, make payments and reload data, the system sends a PIN code to the DID for the SIM.

I will add that it occurred to me after posting this question that being able to send message to an MG using SMS could be turned into an interesting feature, like having it reply back with status messages, very much like sending messages to via an API. Its could provide another interface to developers.

[Ryan_Miles]

The ATT, VZW, and TMO SIMs I've ordered were all consumer grade and I didn't have to do that process.

[GSaintClair]

Ryan, legit, I am not making this up. If you've not run into this I would like to know how you are ordering these, specifically from AT&T. If I'm doing this wrong going in the front door of the store and getting a SIM, I am willing to go back and order these a different way. Support agents can't help. Without the PIN, I can't create a login to manage the account, it is all based on the initial PIN being sent via SMS.

Getting back to the original question, can the MG at least log an SMS message sent to it?

[PhilipDAth]

You'll pay to pull the SIM out, put it into a phone, read the TXT and perform the process, and then put the sim back into the MG.