So…I’m totally hooked on Particle, but need a more affordable data plan. Consequently, when I bumped into AT&T’s IoT Platform which appears to offer a $2/SIM with 1GB shared data for $25 (can be used over 12 months), it piqued my interest. They also offer 3GB for $60 and 5GB for $100. I need something like 15MB/month/device and I have a number of devices. On the surface the AT&T offering looks like a better fit for my needs.
I’m trying to get confirmation from them that the Electron (SARA-U260) is an approved device on their network.
We’d like to push data 1/minute, but the cost of the Particle data plan has us pushing once per five minutes.
Has anyone else looked at this offering and are there any caveats? I do realize I’d be giving up the singular console for total fleet management.
I certainly understand if Particle removes this topic from the board as it would appear to run contrary to their business model.
@ctmorrison, the only that is not available in the Particle Console (fleet management) would be the billing. Furthermore, @rickkas7 tells me that the he u-blox SARA U-260 is on AT&T M2M’s approved list.
Now, whether the AT&T SIM is the best deal or not, I can’t tell you that. I live in Canada where nothing cellular is a good deal!
I’ve tested the M2M IoT SIMs from AT&T so I know they work. It looks like AT&T is sunsetting it’s 2G network soon however so I’m not sure how long they will work for. T-Mobile seems to have some deal to addess that issue.
My primary concern about the AT&T offering was the fact that it appeared to be linked to their LTE service. Since the Electron is 3G, I checked with them and they said it would work just fine. So…I’ve ordered a few SIMs and will report back on my experience for those that may need more data/month.
@ctmorrison Another thing to consider is how often you will need to Ping the Particle Cloud server to keep the connection alive since each ping cost you data and unlike when using the Particle SIM service where you can wait up to 23 mins between Ping’s some 3rd party cellular providers require that you ping to keep the connection alive every couple mins.
Having to Ping every 30 -60 seconds will add a decent amount of data usage over the course of the day which will add up.
If your planning on sending data every 60 seconds anyways then you may be just fine.
This was something that I came across while looking for cheaper cellular service packages. I ended up just deciding that it would be best to stick with Particle and negotiate with them for better rates vs going somewhere else that is less integrated.
