SIM cards for GNSS receivers

[ APIS Status Page ] [ Simbase ] [ Tello ] [ More Carriers ] [ Fine Print ] [ Multi-Carrier Compatibility ]

iGage highly recommends that you provision cellular SIM cards in general. You may choose to use SIM cards from simbase or from most other carriers. iGage no longer resells data plans.

IMPORTANT: if you previously purchased DAC cards from iGage, they will continue to operate normally until the end of the existing contract period. If you would like to extend service through DAC, we will assist you in transferring your existing card from our account to your account. Call us prior to the end of existing service expiration.

Simbase, Tello, or other carriers are 3 to 20 times less expensive than DAC, providing multi-carrier (including the possibility of Verizon) or single-carrier pay-as-you-go options and are easier to administer.

APIS Status Page

iGage team and customers rely on APIS everyday. APIS is a piece of software running 24/7 on cloud servers at different addresses (Domain/IP). APIS has very high up-time, and it is still possible for an APIS server/domain/IP to go down.

iGage maintains the APIS Status Page, you can bookmark this page on your data collector and see the status of APIS-USA and APIS-EU servers at all times. Most APIS challenges come from cellular reliability, the APIS Status Page can be loaded to confirm cellular data.

Simbase Overview

[ How much data does a GNSS receiver use? ]

[ Getting started with simbase ]

In recent months, some iGage customers and team have reported reliability issues causing some to try other providers. iGage published this FAQ PDF with some details.

The advantages of simbase cards include:

  • $0.01 per day ($3.65 / year) for ATT activation (multiple coverage notes)
  • $0.01 per megabyte of data ($10 / gigabyte)
  • Low card cost ($40 for 10-cards)
  • Data is not lost at the end of the month, granular billing: 1 cent per megabyte
  • Devices automatically select the strongest carrier when powered on
  • Self administration of all billing, activation, usage limits
  • Auto-top-up when balance drops
  • Cards can be disabled and enabled at any time, activation takes about 15-seconds
  • Administrative console allows naming of cards, displays location of device, last IMEI and allows remote reset
  • Static IP's can be assigned as needed for $0.30 per day (not needed with iGage or CHC equipment for Base Rover network connections)

How much data will my receiver use on Simbase?

A highest data use scenario is a fully enabled network base broadcasting RTCM3.3 MSM4 tracking 35 satellites. This configuration will transfer ~750 bytes of correction data per second:

Use

Bytes

Data Cost

1 minute

45,000

$0.00045 / minute

1 hour

2,700,000

$0.03

8 hours

21,600,000

$0.22

20 8-hour days per month

432,000,000

$4.32 / month

1 24-hour day

64,800,000

$0.65 / day

31 24-hour days

2,008,800,000

$20.09 / month

Most users will use significantly less than $3.00 worth of data for a GNSS receiver per month plus $0.60 per month activation. In other words: a card placed into a GNSS head, used Monday through Friday for 6-hours per day will cost less than $50 per year.

If a card is installed in a data collector, the collector may use substantially more data for email, file synchronization, updates and other internet use.

Getting started on Simbase

Click [ simbase.com ] to open a new window.

Create a new account.

Purchase SIM cards, they will ship from Phoenix Arizona and should arrive quickly. We recommend purchasing enough cards to put a card in every receiver and every data collector that you own, that way you won't need to move cards between devices. Disabled cards cost nothing, enabling a card takes less than 15-seconds.

When the cards arrive, log back in to simbase and register the cards to your account. If you purchase 10 or more cards, there will be a single batch code that attaches all of the cards to your account in one operation.

Add some $ to your simbase account:

Enable auto-top-up:

Set the cards to USA (AT&T and T-Mobile) coverage:

(See multiple coverage notes for details on Verizon and T-Mobile.)

Enable the cards you want to use:

It takes less than 15-seconds to enable a card. However, we believe it can take as long as 10-minutes for the card status to completely propagate through all the networks.

Name the cards to help keep track of which card is where:

Insert the SIM card into your receiver:

Set the APN in the receiver or data collector to simbase, User Name and Password blank:

Cycle the power on your receiver, or the internal modem after changing the APN to reset your local network towers:

After a minute, the simbase Overview page will show your newly registered device:

Tello Overview

Some team members have reported initial success with Tello (uses T-mobile network).

Plans

2 GB and 10 GB Monthly data plans are available and are fixed-price pay-as-you-go. Select 'no minutes'.

Purchase Direct

Tello cards can be purchased and ship pre-activated at tello.com.

Purchase on Amazon

Tello cards can be purchased and ship unactivated 1-per-order on Amazon.

Base Station APN

APN: fast.t-mobile.com

Dial String: *99#

Username: [n/a leave blank]

Password: [n/a leave blank]

Collector APN

No APN setting will be needed with Tello in Android devices. Insert an activated Tello card in your collector and you will have data.

Additional Carrier Options

 

Some team members have reported initial success with Hologram multi-carrier SIM cards.

Some users have reported success acquiring Verizon cards in our Simbase Reliability FAQ PDF. Success may depend on your local store.

Fine Print

Service is not provided, billed, or supported by iGage. iGage does not receive a commission from simbase.

iGage will not support you other than to help you change the APN in receivers that we have sold.

Triple Coverage

We are unsure if the complication of third-party multi-carrier SIM data routing outweighs the stability of single-carrier SIM plans. For example, some users report success acquiring compatible SIM cards direct from Verizon - but Verizon compatibility on Simbase is not great.

Your local cellular towers and antennas play into this too. Users nationwide may have varying brand preferences and perceived performance-per-brand due to regional cell infrastructure.

CHCNav and iGage receivers use the Quectel EG25-G modem (as do most other receivers from GNSS equipment manufacturers.) These modems are approved by Verizon for use on the Verizon network, however the white list at Verizon appears to be incomplete. This is why you can not provision our devices on Verizon using the IMEI numbers. If these devices attempt to connect to the Verizon network, they typically cannot consume data or there is a significant delay in connectivity.

If you select the triple coverage plan option  (ATT + Verizon + T-Mobile), simbase claims that non-white listed devices will automatically switch from Verizon to T-Mobile or ATT. Our current experience is this does not actually happen and the coverage is hung on Verizon with no data.

We recommend using the ATT + T-Mobile plan:

 

iGage Mapping Corporation
1545 South 1100 East #1;  Salt Lake City UT 84105 USA
Voice:
+1 801 412-0011 Fax: +1 801 412-0022

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