Neat setup, $3 Cell plan

Clever setup, great for alarm applications...

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle
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Great post, Martin! Thanks.

Reply to
John S

Interesting! Does anyone know what the (real) coverage area is on this? And the long term outlook?

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Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

it's just a cellphone, so the same as what ever cell network they use

$3/month isn't really revolutionary, I think you can probably walk into any shop around here and get a prepaid sim card that'll cost less per month, if you already have cellphone you can probably get and extra number for free

used all over the place for alarms, car tracking, remote control, traffic lights, etc.

-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

If you read the FAQ they talk about 2G being available world wide... except that in the US the cell companies plan to phase it out. So for US use a 3G unit will be required at some point in time.

As to the cost, I've never found a prepaid plan that doesn't have a time limit which puts the minimum cost near $20 a month.

I think $3 a month can be a bit much if you have a few dozen or even a few hundred units transmitting data and each one requires it's own account at $3 a month. But if this is the only way to get the data home, I can see it making otherwise difficult projects much easier.

I think $59 for the unit is a bit much once it is in production. I would think this could be dropped to $10 or so. I mean, the think doesn't include an LCD or even a battery for Pete's sake! My prepaid cell phone only cost $10.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

Then you haven't looked.

Page Plus is as little as $2.50/month ($10 minimum every 120 days). Actually a little less when you buy the refills for 10% off. Verizon's network.

The cheapest is TruPhone which charges $30 for a SIM with $15 credit. No minimum, no expiration. T-Mobile network, and maybe some roaming, but they don't actually know the coverage they have outside of T-Mobile.

You need to have some activity every 180 days, but that can be receiving a free call or text. .

The most expensive prepaid plans are the heavily advertised plans like Tracfone, Virgin, Boost, GoPhone....

Reply to
sms

They are cheap if you truly don't need to actually use the phone, 100 minutes for $10. But it is $3 a month minimum according to their web page because of a $0.50 per month service fee. For phone use that doesn't work for me because I actually need to use the phone. More importantly this wouldn't work for data because the 100 minutes would be gone in a flash I think. I don't believe they measure data the same way as we might. For example a 640 bit text message costs me a half minute of talk time on my current plan. That would be nearly a half Mbit of talk time.

I might look at them for a cell phone though. I need to find a phone that isn't a smart phone though.

I guess a phone that doesn't work can be cheap. T-mobile has the worst network, literally having a "black hole" of some 40 mile diameter where I am.

Tracfone can be very affordable if you don't use it much. $100 gets you

1000 minutes good for a year. A lot of seniors use them for emergency phones to have in the car.
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Rick
Reply to
rickman

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a common plan here would be something like ~$20/month for 10GB data, 6 hour talk, free SMS/MMS and for few $ extra you can get extra sim cards for data on the same plan for you laptop/ipad/modem

-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

On Page Plus, $72 gets you 1920 minutes a year (taking into account the

Tracfone maybe more people will understand how much they're wasting with Tracfone.

But in any case, the subject of this thread is about the low cost plan for the embedded board. There are a lot of applications where it is impractical to use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi where $3/month would be reasonable. I'm thinking of remote monitoring stations. A solar powered system that powers up once a day or once an hour to send small amounts of data out would not require any wires.

Reply to
sms

Cheers

That's why I am asking. It doesn't depend on the cell network as much as it does on the contracts they worked out. For example, if there are roaming deals with several major networks this could be a real deal. If only one network, then not so much.

Not in America. It is much more monopolized here than in Europe so our prices are higher. Except for people like me who use cell phones very little. I pay $7 a month. It has data in there but I've hardly ever used that part.

[...]
--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

If the coverage is good, you could add a GPS and transmit location data and usage info. Great for Leases and such.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Den fredag den 27. februar 2015 kl. 20.27.09 UTC+1 skrev Martin Riddle:

quite common here for cars, tractors, boats, etc. probably cost ~100-200$ with a sim card and the insurance might give you a discount.

small enough to hide, backup battery good for 3 days. I'll send an SMS with coordinates if you ask it, can programmed to do it if it leaves a certain area, exceeds a certain speed etc.

-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

Progressive and State farm (both insurance companies) have a program that does some of this -- no doubt more in the future -- by interfacing to OBD-II port on your vehicle.

[AFAICT, they are primarily concerned with *when* you drive, how *far*/much you drive and "how hard you brake" -- though the latter is dubious as it typically is deduced from "wheel speed" which, of course, does not always correlate with "vehicle speed". And, of course, part of the "agreement" is that they can use the data in whatever way *they* deem appropriate! E.g., "Immediately prior to that *crash*, we noted that you were traveling in excess of the speed limit so we are going to deny your claim..."]
Reply to
Don Y

Unlikely there is any roaming.

There is quite a market in embedded systems for an inexpensive communications system based, on cellular, for small amounts of data to be gathered from remote sites.

TruPhone is probably the best deal for a system that just needs to deal with small amounts of data. Send the device a free SMS and have it

of bytes per day, i.e. soil moisture, soil PH, and other status. It could take a year to use up 1 MB of data. There are no recurring costs with TruPhone. You pay $30 for a SIM with $15 credit on it. $15 pays for about 167MB. So you could operate the system for 167 years for $15. They have no requirement to add money to the account every month, three months, or year, at least not right now.

Reply to
sms

Yes, indeed. I had mote networks in mind though and have sent it on to a client. If they like it, are you in the market when it comes to programming stuff like this? I am pretty much analog-only, not a programmer.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

Interesting.

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Although it doesn't say that it covers Germany for US folks. Anyhow, do you know which network they piggyback on? To me coverage is more important than per minute cost. Right now I am on Sprint (through Virgin Mobile) and despite all the razzing by some about poor coverage I had many situations where people on AT&T had to borrow my lowly Nokia 2115i to make a call.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

State Farm requires that you either have OnStar or Sync service in your vehicle. If not, they resell In-Drive service for anywhere between $5 to $10/month. (Calif prices). I don't recall what State Farm offered as a discount, but it wasn't much and barely covered the cost of the In-Drive service. The amount was also a big surprise. From the above URL:

Receive an initial 5%* discount when you sign up for Drive Safe & Save. At each policy renewal, discover the extent of your discounts, with a discount up to 50%*.

*Discounts and savings may not be available or may vary by state, coverages selected, program eligibility, mileage driven and driving characteristics.

In other words, my agent didn't have a clue how much of a discount I would obtain beyond the initial 5% discount. I would potentially need to wait 1 year to find out (I pay annually). I declined.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Ah! Even at $5/month, that would represent a significant portion of my current premium! A *known* increase to offset a HOPED FOR discount!

Yeah, *10*% wouldn't cover the cost of the service, for me! And, you KNOW that opting OUT of the service would slam you with a big increase.

Yet another case of a company showing disdain for its customers...

Reply to
Don Y

More like showing more profit for its investors.

I believe there is a significant reduction in "bad" behavior knowing that someone is watching.

Religion has worked that way since the beginning of time.

Think how much more pleasant the newsgroups would be if you got fined for antisocial behavior. ;-)

Reply to
mike

That's the *theory*: e.g., "Greeters" in department stores, overhead monitors making it very clear to you that you are being surveilled, etc. Of course, once you've *past* the Greeter and the monitor above the entryway door, one wonders how effective those items *were*... (i.e., perhaps helps you "behave" as you are entering the store?)

I suspect these will end up following the same adoption/benefit path that all other "surrender your privacy" approaches have taken (e.g., membership cards at local stores): some *small* savings, initially -- until enough folks have adopted them that they can eliminate the "savings" incentive (replacing it with a *penalty* for those who don't subscribe).

Ha! Yeah, that's worked real well! I guess it depends on what behaviors you (and the practitioners of that religion) consider "bad". Along with your definition of a "reduction". I wonder what a graph of "religious adherence" vs. "bad behavior" would look like, historically?

That's the whole point behind "closed" forums: moderation and the potential threat of being "kicked out".

I've heard from folks who've adopted the Progressive "plan". Apparently, their device "beeps" at you when it thinks you are engaging in a behavior for which they "won't reward" (i.e., discount the premium) you. We all *love* being "nagged", right? And, that is a *sure* way to get us to do what is wanted/expected??

Reply to
Don Y

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