Summary: SMS notifications to customers are experiencing delivery delays of 15–30 minutes during peak traffic periods due to upstream queue throttling in our Twilio integration.
Symptoms
- Customer reports receiving appointment confirmations, arrival notifications, or completion messages significantly after the expected time
- Delays observed most frequently between 8:00–10:00 AM and 4:00–6:00 PM local time
- Push notifications and email remain unaffected
- Message status in Settings > Notification Logs shows "Delivered" with timestamp matching intended send time, but carrier timestamp shows later receipt
Affected Versions
FieldPulse 3.1.0–3.1.2
All regions utilizing Twilio for SMS delivery
Cause
Twilio's message queue is configured with a throughput limit of 100 messages per second per account SID. During peak dispatch windows, job creation and technician status changes trigger notification batches that exceed this threshold, causing messages to queue upstream before processing.
Resolution
No action required by customers. Engineering has implemented message batching and priority queuing in FieldPulse 3.1.3.
Workaround
For critical notifications, configure a fallback channel:
- Navigate to Settings > Notifications > Customer Notifications
- Select the notification type (e.g., "Technician En Route")
- Enable Send via Email if SMS fails
- Set Fallback delay threshold to 5 minutes
Note: This workaround does not eliminate SMS delays; it provides an alternative delivery path for time-sensitive communications.
Status
Resolved in 3.1.3, released 2026-01-25. Messages are now distributed across multiple queue shards with priority classification for arrival and emergency notifications.
See Integration Update: QuickBooks Online Sync Enhancements for related infrastructure improvements.
