Yes. We allow trials for an agreed period of time at the same costs as you would expect to pay for our SIMs in the future. However, we do not hold you to any contract period beyond the trial length and we do not require a minimum order. We do not provide SIMs for trials free of charge, so for example if you require a 2MB trial for one month, the costs would be :
- Cost of SIM card
- 2MB of data for 1 month per SIM card
- Shipping
- We may also ask for a small deposit to cover overuse charges.
- What happens if we don't know how much data we will use?
We are generally happy to choose a bundle for a trial period and adjust this according to the usage required thereafter.
- If our unit is static, is it cheaper to use a single network SIM?
It depends. If you are using less than 10MB, our costs are comparable and most of the time cheaper than those available from local networks. However if you are using 10MB or more, it will be cheaper to use a local single network SIM card (although you will lose the coverage reliability of a multiple network SIM). We also provide single network SIM cards in the UK and the US.
- Why is the cost of a MultiNet SIM similar or lower than a SingleNet SIM?
For low amounts of data to be sent (less than 10MB) the networks don't really appreciate the business. Their share price is very related to something called ARPU (Average Revenue Per Unit). Voice carries a high ARPU (good for the share price), M2M applications carry a low amount of data and therefore low ARPU (bad for the share price). As a result the networks will often charge a high line rental but a lower cost per MB. Therefore on lower amounts of data, whilst we have to pay roaming rates, this regularly works out cheaper than the tariffs networks will offer. On larger amounts of data (over 10MB), the single network pricing will become more favourable.
However, if your unit will go over multiple countries (for example across the EU), then our SIM card pricing beats the network pricing every time regardless of the amount of data sent.
- Can we use the same SIM in different countries at the same price?
Yes. Please refer to our International Data SIM Cards section, but in summary, the cost is the same across the EU and some other countries. There is another tier of pricing for the US and additional countries.
- Why do you charge for the SIM itself, some networks don't?
Simply because we have to pay to get the SIMs manufactured. By charging for the SIM card, we keep the cost of the line rental lower.
- Can our manufacturer install the SIMs in production prior to activation?
Yes. You only pay line rental when you activate the SIMs. This can be done when they are in the field anywhere in the world.
- Can we increase the bundle of data after we have activated the SIM?
Yes. In fact we encourage this. If you are incurring high overuse fees as you are regularly going over your bundle, we would suggest that you change your bundle so that your overall costs will be lower. Whilst it may seem that we would want you to go over your bundle as much as possible, this does not help our planning requirements and is a sure way for you to move to another provider as soon as you can. Since we want you to stay with us for many years to come, we are more concerned about ensuring that you keep your costs at a manageable level.
- What happens if we exceed our bundle? What are the charges?
The system will calculate the overuse charges automatically and add these to your monthly bill. However, as stated in the paragraph above, if you are regularly using more than your bundle, we would suggest you change bundle in order to keep your costs down.
Outbound (mobile originated - MO) SMS costs US $0.15, Euro 0.125 or GBP £0.1
There is no charge for inbound (mobile terminated - MT) SMS. This includes the USA although a fair use policy applies.
- Can we use Circuit Switched Data (CSD) and what is the cost?
Yes. However, we would recommend switching to GPRS as it is a lot cheaper and technically easier. CSD is charged on the same basis as voice at a cost of 35p per minute.
- Can we use voice and what is the cost?
Yes although by default the SIM card will not have voice enabled. As the SIM cards are roaming the cost of voice is expensive - US$0.6, Euro 0.42 or GBP £0.35. It is therefore expected that voice will be used on an emergency basis (for example with lone worker devices).
- What are your shipping charges per shipment?
- Within UK = £10
- Within Europe = €30 (or at cost)
- Within the US = $15 from our Houston office.
- Can we pay by credit card?
Yes, but we add a 4% charge to cover fees. We prefer that you transfer the money to our bank in the UK (for sterling), in Ireland (for Euros) or the US (for dollars). If you want SIMs in a hurry it is normally possible to do a same day faster payment (much cheaper than a CHAPS payment) so that we can send the SIMs the next day.
- Which currencies do you accept?
Euros (preferred), UK Sterling, US Dollars.
- I want to resell your SIMs, can I get volume discounts?
On our SIM Cost Calculator volume discounts are given for the number of SIMs that you have purchased (not necessarily activated). We have kept our prices as low as possible to allow our customers to sell the SIMs on at prices they wish to set (which can be shown in our billing platform). Our volume discounts will allow our resellers to benefit financially the more SIMs they sell.
No. Neither our SIMs nor our administration and billing platform have any indication that Podsystem is behind the service. This allows you to sell the service as your own at the price you wish to set.
- Which network do you use?
We are an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) of a European MVNE. This allows us to create our own pricing structure, control our SIMs whilst still operating under the EU regulatory conditions that limit the pricing between networks. This ensures that our pricing will stay comparable to local rates.
- Why should we use you, rather than a Network Operator?
Numerous reasons, but leaving aside that we can offer lower prices:
- We understand M2M. Ask a network for help on an M2M SIM and they will probably ask you what handset you are using! We have been an M2M specialist for over 10 years including dealing with both hardware and software, therefore we can probably help in diagnostics if there are issues.
- We can offer multiple networks rather than one single network.
- We provide a level of control and service that the networks are not set up to provide.
- Do you offer pay as you go (pre-pay) SIMs?
Not at the moment. This is something we are looking at doing, but the costs would be higher than our post pay SIMs. Please contact us if this is of interest.
- Can you provide micro SIMs (for example for the ipad)?
In the UK, we can offer small volumes of micro SIMs on the 3 network. For other countries and networks, we would require a significant volume as this would have to be manufactured specifically.
