How to program Particle Electron from Twilio SIGNAL?

Getting Started
1

At the Twilio SIGNAL 2016 conference, Particle Electrons in balls with LED lights were given out at the keynote. Are there instructions on how to use these with the included SIM card?

2

Have you tried checking the docs?

3

A click here (red frame) will lead you to something like this
https://docs.particle.io/guide/getting-started/intro/electron/

4

I had located the general docs which are good for general capability, but I’m specifically interested in using the Twilio Programmable Wireless capability that was demonstrated at the keynote.

When I search for “Twilio” in the docs on https://docs.particle.io, the only result I get is sending SMS, but I’m interesting in receiving commands as demonstrated.

https://docs.particle.io/guide/tools-and-features/webhooks/#sending-sms-text-messages-

For example, regarding the Electron that was handed out, is it possible to use the SIM card that was distributed, or do I need to get a new SIM card?

5

Triggering a webhook that causes Twillo to send an SMS works with the Particle SIM just fine.
What you can't do with the Particle SIM is to send/receive SMS directly from the cellular modem.

Is there a video of that keynote to see what you are refering to?

6

The electron requires an Internet connection to function (completely). Where it gets that from is irrelevant. The Twilio SIM is just another way of connecting to the Web. Functionality-wise, nothing should’ve changed. All documentation should therefor still be relevant.

7

Hey all!

There are two things you need to do in order to get the Twilio SIM set up with the Electron.

  1. Add the following line of code before the setup function to change the APN:
    STARTUP(cellular_credentials_set("wireless.twilio.com", "", "", NULL));

  2. Increase the keepalive ping frequency in the setup function to accommodate Twilio’s carrier specifications:
    Particle.keepAlive(15);

You can find an example application, which was used in the Twilio demo, here:

The modifications referenced in #1 and #2 are on line 11 and line 48 respectively.

Will

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