Hi all,
I have a doubt about Electron and Particle Cloud.
With <100 Electrons, I’d like to use Particle Cloud for firmware OTA updates ONLY. Other 99% of the time I sample air quality and send UDP packet to my server via 3th party sim card inside.
Without updates, will I be charged every months (2.99$/month * device) even if they haven’t been connected to the Cloud in those months?
Tnks
For Electrons in your developer account, you can have up to 100 devices that use a 3rd-party SIM card for no additional charge. You must deactivate or release ownership of the Particle SIM card, as leaving it active has a $2.99/month fee for up to 3 MB of data, even if the amount of data is zero.
If you are using a product, then the first 100 devices with 3rd-party there is no charge, however if you exceed 100 devices with 3rd-party SIM cards, you’ll still have a $2.99/month device cloud charge whether you use a Particle SIM or not.
Hi @ricckas7, could you explain me what’s the difference between a device and a product in Particle world? I often read them in the description but I can’t find what’s the difference.
Plus, since I’m using 3rd party sim only, should I register/activate/deactivate/release ownership of them even if they’re not Particle SIM, in order to let them interface to the Particle Cloud? Only Particle SIM has 2.99$/month fee for up to 3MB data?
Sorry if I’m pedantic but I have to be sure about pricing before starting a campaign with Particle electrons.
Scenario:
99 Electrons with O2 sim card inside are registered to my personal account. They connect to the Cloud and I flash all of them 2.99MB firmware during May, nothing in June and 6MB during July.
Will be charged? Is there a maximum MB/month allowed without any charging?
Here is one starting point for investigation
https://docs.particle.io/reference/device-os/firmware/photon/#product_id-
https://docs.particle.io/tutorials/device-cloud/console/#product-tools
You can only access the device via the cloud when that device is owned my some account and you have access to that account - so yes, you need to claim the device even if you don't activate the Particle SIM.
What ScruffR said is true. Also, when you use a 3rd-party SIM there is no limit on the amount of data you use imposed by Particle - that’s dependent on the fees for your mobile carrier.
The 3MB limit is only when using the Particle SIM card.
The activation of the Particle SIM card and the claiming of the device are two separate things. You must claim the device in order to use it with the Particle cloud, but you do not need to activate the Particle SIM card to use the cloud.