Most economical provider for cell monitoring of alarm

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snnet

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#280213 2-Dec-2020 20:38

Hi,

Was wondering if anyone has any input to the most financially economical casual prepay plan for a SIM used for alarm monitoring. I have done some research, and the site has alright coverage for Vodafone, Spark and 2Degrees (I will be putting an antenna in addition specific to the alarm module to assist), but from what I can gather:

Spark casual data is $1/day for 10MB - so I'm assuming this means even if the alarm polls the cloud server etc every now and then it's going to cost at least $1 per day even if barely any data is used (will be well under 10MB / day) - however they do offer a $5/month for 100MB data which isn't bad at all

2Degrees offers a casual rate of 50c per MB which sounds okay, but also has a 1c per session minimum charge and I have no idea how many times this will be starting sessions given it has cloud p2p

Vodafone suggests 50c/MB casual rate but I can't see a clause about minimum per-session charges and I really don't want to call them about it because I don't trust the answer I'd get to be correct - however I do put more stock in Vodafone ex/staff's knowledge on here

The module will also call but obviously that's just 49c/min across the board - may even get it turned off if the client is happy enough with the cloud app

TIA for any suggestions/help!

deadlyllama

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#2614976 2-Dec-2020 20:42

Warehouse mobile, $4mo for 500Mb? Or casual 8c/Mb?

How do you manage the prepay plan, though - who checks it's topped up/etc?

snnet

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#2614978 2-Dec-2020 20:47

deadlyllama:

Warehouse mobile, $4mo for 500Mb? Or casual 8c/Mb?

How do you manage the prepay plan, though - who checks it's topped up/etc?

Thanks, that's pretty good, the client will be managing it, the casual rate sounds very good in comparison, especially because I expect them to let any addons expire and think they will automatically reappear when they pay again (we all know that doesn't happen)

michaelmurfy

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#2615127 2-Dec-2020 21:47

If it is your alarm you could go onto a 2degrees postpaid plan (one with a data cap), grab a Prepaid sim for the alarm and data share with it (this is free and you can share to 5 connections). Will mean the sim never expires and it’ll always have data as long as you do on your main plan.

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snnet

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#2615130 2-Dec-2020 21:50

michaelmurfy: If it is your alarm you could go onto a 2degrees postpaid plan (one with a data cap), grab a Prepaid sim for the alarm and data share with it (this is free and you can share to 5 connections). Will mean the sim never expires and it’ll always have data as long as you do on your main plan.

Thanks for the tip - it is for a client and I believe they are on Vodafone but I'll mention that to them, it might be attractive!

(edit: they're on Spark - a shame there isn't the same offer there for that)

davidcole

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#2615261 3-Dec-2020 07:07

Are you monitoring via data connection, or just "monitoring" via sms notifications?

Ie what is the minimum top up amount to keep the number active.

But I agree the 2 degrees, if with data, then any data sharing etc can be applied. In the old days, 2deg gave away a 200mb per month datasim with business plans....very handy for cars, or alarms.

For just sms monitoring, we have an alarm on 2degrees, and from the web site the min top up is $20 once a year....but I found with the 2deg app, you can do $10. Just to keep the credit topped up/number active.

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andgor

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#2615568 3-Dec-2020 13:14

Hi. The alarm system only uses data? I use a Hologram.io "IoT" SIM in my GPS trackers. Not that cheap if you use "a lot" of data, but simple to manage. Works good for the GPS trackers (as long as they support roaming, one I tried didn't seem to) as they can use all 3 networks.

The alarm system module does support 3G or 4G right?

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snnet

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#2615739 3-Dec-2020 17:09

davidcole:

Are you monitoring via data connection, or just "monitoring" via sms notifications?

Ie what is the minimum top up amount to keep the number active.

But I agree the 2 degrees, if with data, then any data sharing etc can be applied. In the old days, 2deg gave away a 200mb per month datasim with business plans....very handy for cars, or alarms.

For just sms monitoring, we have an alarm on 2degrees, and from the web site the min top up is $20 once a year....but I found with the 2deg app, you can do $10. Just to keep the credit topped up/number active.

Primarily by data with an app - the alarm system will interact with a cloud server, it has the capability for calling and texting as well, but have to discuss further with the client if they want to limit it to just data - warehouse mobile is looking pretty attractive for this if all 3 will be in use, especially because the 8c is the standard rate and they won't have to re-add some pack if they happened to let credit expire

snnet

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#2615740 3-Dec-2020 17:10

andgor:

Hi. The alarm system only uses data? I use a Hologram.io "IoT" SIM in my GPS trackers. Not that cheap if you use "a lot" of data, but simple to manage. Works good for the GPS trackers (as long as they support roaming, one I tried didn't seem to) as they can use all 3 networks.

The alarm system module does support 3G or 4G right?

Hi, it has the ability to just use data or just sms or just voice - or all 3. Thanks for the tip, the module is advertised as very low bandwidth so it's just the session fees that would catch the clients out I think. Yes, the module supports 2G 3G 4G

Thanks all for your help