We can preinstall SIM cards into our PCs and routers during production – including device configuration & testing – so that the devices are ready to go online straight out of the box.
You can supply your own SIM cards, or we offer a range of specialist data plans designed specifically for business-critical machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, including SIM cards which roam across multiple networks for the best possible reliability.
Available monthly data volumes range from 100 MB for PCs being used for low-volume telematics-type applications, up to 100’s of GB for PCs or routers providing Wi-Fi hotspots on coaches and buses. SIM cards are available on UK, EU or rest-of-world data plans.
Dedicated M2M SIM cards offer numerous advantages over standard SIM cards obtained directly from mobile networks, in particular:
Aggregated Data Allowance
Our M2M data packages offer an aggregated data allowance across multiple SIM cards, with all of your SIM cards sharing a common pool of data rather than having a rigid per-SIM monthly limit. Therefore if some devices exceed their monthly allocation there is no penalty – as long as the total data usage across all your SIMs is within the overall limit. This helps to protect you from situations where one rogue SIM attracts massive out-of-bundle data charges.
Improved resilience and reliability with a private APN
APN stands for Access Point Name, and is the entry point to a mobile data network. With a normal mobile data SIM each device connects to a public APN, which is shared between all the mobile network’s customers. Our M2M roaming SIMs use a private APN, isolating devices from general outages of the public APN and resulting in much greater reliability and performance.
Advanced management and monitoring tools
Our M2M data packages are accompanied by advanced monitoring and control tools, allowing easy activation, swapping and barring of SIM cards, and real-time usage reporting and alerting.
Multi-network roaming SIMs (optional)
All mobile networks suffer service outages and have coverage gaps, no matter how good the in-vehicle hardware is. Although most networks have excellent population coverage, this does not equate to excellent geographical coverage – a much more important factor in M2M communications. In addition, network cells reduce their coverage area as traffic increases, so even if a fixed point has coverage at one moment it can lose it if the cell experiences heavy traffic.
For applications where it is critical to have internet connectivity wherever possible the answer is to use a high resilience multi-network SIM card that roams across multiple (or all) UK and multiple EU networks, with no steering to a preferred “home” network. These SIM cards offer exceptional reliability and coverage.
Please contact us for any further information.