Our neighborhood has a pumping station to evacuate rain water during large storms. When the pumps are not working a red light is lit, but it's in a remote area and people don't see the red light. We would like to add an Arduino to monitor the red light and when it's lit send a text to one of two cell phones. We don't have wifi, so we will need to use cellular. I understand that Arduino has an inexpensive plan for this. Does anyone know what we need to buy to do this. The red light is 120 volts.
Thanks,
Glenn
Presumably you are going to attach an adapter to the light fitting so that the power to the lamp also powers an adapter that feeds whatever device you have to do this.
I don't know where you came across that notion, but no such "free lunch" exists. You find a GSM plan to suit with a SIM card.
I daresay you can use some sort of Arduino with GSM module of whatever "G" is presently available. You probably could find a module to do this without an Arduino at all.
How remote? How far is the pump house from the nearest location with a phone line or internet?
Over a quarter mile, so we can't run hard line. I thought we could just have the SIM card there and have it text a couple of cell phones.
I thought there was a cellular plan offered by Arduino to cover the monthly data plan for texting. Arduino SIM — Arduino Online Shop
$3 for the SIM card and $1.50 per month for the data plan. Did I get this wrong?
I have no practical experience with this product but I noticed these restrictions:
Initially Arduino SIM will support Arduino MKR GSM 1400 (3G with 2G fallback).
If you can work with this board and the GSM level works in your locality, the price looks attractive. However, it looks like the data you send is “stuck” in the Arduino Cloud but maybe there is a way to access it which can be integrated with any alarming mechanism that you design with your application.
As for monitoring the state of the warning light, this may help:
An ESP8266 can be made to send SMS over WiFi. You'd need to have one as a 2nd unit connected to IoT where there is WiFi.
Is there line-of-sight to a location with wi-fi/internet access? Using directional antenna, WiFi can go a long way. Alternatively there are several RF transmitter/receiver modules which will cover that distance, or more. This idea might save you the cost of a monthly subscription.
No, looks valid - and international to boot, including Australia. 
Shows how never I purchase Arduino stuff directly from Arduino. 
Have a google of “gsm dialer” - there are devices available which might be Bretter than re inventing the wheel .
Power a relay off the light and use it’s contacts into the dialer
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