What is an IoT SIM card? How is it different from a mobile SIM?
While our IoT SIM card might look identical to any regular SIM card from any operator, it has many differences. Regular smartphone SIM cards have different technical properties and network settings that don’t fit IoT use cases.
The key difference between ‘a smartphone SIM card’ and our IoT SIM cards are the features offered on top of the data connectivity. To spill the beans before we get started: a smartphone SIM cards’ purpose is for smartphones and not for IoT use cases. This article will tell you all the differences covering these topics:
1. Roaming and Coverage
| Regular smartphone SIM | Olivia IoT SIM | |
|---|---|---|
| Networks | Single network coverage | Multi-network coverage |
| Coverage | Single country with limits on roaming or at excessive rates. | Global coverage at a single rate. |
| Steering | SIM is forced to use cheapest network | Roaming on best available network |
| Limits | Daily roaming usage is limited to 1GB per day | No daily roaming limits |
| Yearly roaming is limited to 60 days per year | Unlimited roaming |
Regular smartphone SIM cards stay mostly in one country and incidentally roam on foreign networks. Your operator pays local roaming partners for your data usage. This usage outside of their own network is costly to them. That’s why they only allow you on the cheapest local network and force your hardware to that network. The technical name for it is ‘Steering of roaming’.
This results in:
Up to 5 times more time to set up a data connection.
Once registered, the network will keep pushing you to a cheaper network, making the connection unstable.
Unable to use high-quality networks.
The operator has additional charges for roaming traffic, but they don’t just want to get compensated for it. They want to make a lot of money without you knowing. That’s what results in this exorbitant bill after a holiday we all remember...
Unfortunately, this gives the perception that roaming SIM cards are more expensive. Just because operators benefit from high charges for roaming, doesn’t mean it’s expensive. A flexible and transparent IoT provider can provide you with excellent roaming options with the costs. Olivia’s SIM cards offer multi-network coverage in many countries and is transparent in what networks are available.
Without the additional charges for roaming, look at what is important for IoT: Coverage and quality networks.
Select the coverage your use-case requires and be certain of a single rate in every country, on all networks. Our SIM cards do not steer to preferred networks. Turn on the hardware and it registers to the best network automatically. One SIM, multiple networks and global coverage when needed, that’s what a dedicated IoT provider can offer.
2. Costs and Contracts
| Regular smartphone SIM | Olivia IoT SIM | |
|---|---|---|
| Data plan | Data is used per SIM card | 'Pooled' data plan can share data between SIM Cards |
| Minimum terms | 1 or 2 year contract | No minimum term |
| 30 day cancellation period | Cancel daily | |
| Seasonality | Fixed monthly bundles | Adjust data plan or use Pay-as-you-Go plan |
| Yearly roaming is limited to 60 days per year | Unlimited roaming |
Regular SIM plans come with oversized data bundles and long-lasting contract terms. IoT projects require the opposite: no wasting data and keeping cost under control with flexible contracts without minimum contract terms.
To prevent paying for unused data, there are two options. Pooled data plans or flexible Pay-as-you-Go plans. At Olivia we offer them both to prevent this from happening. A quick introduction will tell you how both options prevent data being wasted.
Pooled data plan
Say you have two SIM cards on a 100MB data plan. SIM A uses 150MB and SIM B uses 50MB. Their combined data usage is 200MB, which is within the data pool of 2 x 100MB = 200MB. So there won’t be any overage charges. The unused data of SIM B contributes’ it’s data to SIM A with the higher data usage.
Pay-as-you-Go plan
Another simple way to prevent paying for unused data is to only pay for data used. A Pay-as-you-Go plan has a small monthly fee to keep it connected to all the networks. On top of this, you only pay for the actual data usage of the SIM card per KB.
Flexibility in contract terms is a secret hidden cost often overlooked in IoT projects. Devices get lost and you still must pay for the minimum contract term without ever using it again. Same thing with damaged devices, you want to equip the new device without having to wait to get the SIM card from the old device. These things add up during the lifetime of your project. That’s why Olivia lets you cancel your subscriptions at anytime without having a minimum term or activation fees.
Flexibility isn’t just important for IoT projects to prevent lock-in. Being able to switch your data plan and having volume discounts as your project gets larger is part of a flexible offering from an IoT provider. At Olivia we stay in touch with our customers to adjust terms and discounts as projects evolve.
3. Access and Security
| Regular smartphone SIM | Olivia IoT SIM | |
|---|---|---|
| IP Address | Dynamic | Static |
| Server side access | Not supported | OpenVPN IPSec VPN AWS Transit Gateway |
| Encryption | Hardware has to encrypt traffic | VPN encrypts all SIM traffic |
| Server needs to have a public IP | Server can have a public or private IP |
Smartphone SIM cards offer internet access to a smartphone. To make this network architecture secure and scalable, they limit the possibilities for networking options. Many of these options can benefit IoT use-case and help with setting up remote access and secure data transfers. Some examples of what is limited for smartphone SIM Cards:
Operator firewalls block data sessions initiated by the server (only the SIM can initiate a session).
SIM cards have a dynamic IP address that changes every time the SIM starts a new data session.
It allows all internet access. There is no option to block traffic on a network level.
Olivia’s IoT SIMs get a static private IP address, that never changes. Via one of our VPN solutions, you can reach your hardware from the server-side. This remote access option enables easy troubleshooting, maintenance, pushing updates, or changing hardware configurations. No need to go out there to change anything on the hardware manually. Saving a lot on travel and labour.
We offer several secure VPN options to connect to your SIM cards.
OpenVPN
Install our pre-configured OpenVPN client on your computer or server and directly connect to the static IP of your SIM. That’s it. Works on Mac, Windows and Linux.
IPSec
For more advanced IoT deployments we also offer redundant IPSec VPN connections. This makes the SIM cards part of your company network so you have full control over them.
AWS Transit Gateway
The cloud-computing era we live in today, gives us access to world-class infrastructure for a fraction of the costs of building and hosting it yourself.
If your servers are on AWS, we offer direct access to your cards over the VPC backbone, Hyperplane. This makes this solution highly scalable, redundant, secured, patched, and fully managed.
4. Management and control
| Regular smartphone SIM | Olivia IoT SIM | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | Usage is not monitored | Limit data usage via limits |
| SIM can be used in any device | Theft protection disables SIM when used in other hardware | |
| Management | Not available - Call or email service desk to manage a SIM card | Self-service SIM platform to manage SIM cards Dedicated support by phone and email when needed. |
| Billing overview | Aggregate bill with total charge | Detailed report of usage per SIM and group |
IoT projects often come with many devices. You don’t have time to monitor your devices. You need to be alert automatically when abnormalities occur. Regular smartphone plans might give you the option to get some insight on usage on an individual scale. But it’s a dreadful task to check these plans manually. Biggest objection with these regular SIMs is once you know the usage it’s too late, the bill is settled.
With our SIM management portal, you can:
Set usage limits to alert you for high usage and optionally pause the SIM card
Activate, Pause or Deactivate the SIM cards
Group and label your SIM base for overview per project, customer or device type
Force the device to start a new data session
Enable theft protection and automatically disable all data sessions by unauthorized devices.
Voice traffic is blocked on default. No expensive bills for lengthy phone calls if the SIM gets stolen.
View the location of your SIM card via Cell ID localization
Use API’s managing your cards from your own software
5. SIM card types
| Regular smartphone SIM | Olivia IoT SIM | |
|---|---|---|
| Form factors | Mini, micro and nano SIM card | Mini, micro and nano SIM card |
| Embedded SIM card | Built-in with some phones | Available for device integration |
| Industrial-grade SIM | Not available | Available for both Mini, micro and nano and embedded SIM cards |
Most SIM cards come in a 3-in-1 form factor. This offers you the option to choose a mini-, micro- or nano size by simple punching out the right size. IoT SIM cards are no different. But for enterprise IoT projects there are more options available.
First, there are so-called embedded SIM cards (MFF2). Solder an embedded SIM on the PCB of your hardware. This saves space on the PCB and prevents physical theft of the card.
Second, there are different enterprise grades to choose from. Industrial grade SIM cards protect against extreme weather and can resist dust and moisture.
Third, for long-term deployments, eUICCID and multi-IMSI are readily available. We can supply enterprises with many options that will ensure operator flexibility and switching IMSI profiles. You can even source your own SIM cards with our profiles being part of it.
Learn more about different IoT SIM cards
Conclusion
Cellular connectivity is an important part of any IoT project. Understanding the different options that set IoT SIM cards apart from regular smartphone SIMs is an import step in configuring the right solution. The devil is in the details when you’re running a cost-efficient and scalable deployment. The topics of this article provide a good structure to overthink these details:
In figuring out what is most important to your project, you don’t have to go at it alone. Olivia’s team is here to talk about projects of all sizes and give advice on what pitfalls to look out for. Having all the options available for our customers, Olivia provides unbiased advice in configuring the right solution.