Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

twilio.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 149 posts

Re: Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

#131

Post by Nextgrid »

matjaxon wrote: post #124
Nextgrid wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I tried Programmable Wireless, iMessage explicitly didn't work; the activation text (sent in the background to Apple to verify your number and activate iMessage) was being swallowed by the underlying carrier and ended up verifying the internal number of the SIM (a T-Mobile number) instead of being delivered to me through HTTP (so I could route it myself through the Twilio number I wanted to use as outgoing)…

You can use iMessage if you use it with only data but that does limit your ability to only using iMessage with other iMessage users. When you put the Programmable Wireless SIM in your phone you'll be prompted to associate that number with iMessage, if you deny it, then you it won't pick up that number on the SIM with iMessage. I personally use this solution when traveling out of the country with a Programmable Wirele…

> Wireless SIM in your phone you'll be prompted to associate that number with iMessage

That was my problem with it. The “number” it will associate is some internal T-Mobile number and not the Twilio number you would have assigned in the Twilio console.

Re: Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

#132

Post by polishdude20 »

makaimc wrote: post #80
polishdude20 wrote: post #39

What's the difference between an SMS command and just sending data? It says they charge 10 cents for a Mb but 5 cents for a data command. Can I just send a command that is less than a Mb and save money?

Twilio Developer Evangelist here. Our Super SIM Product Manager @matjaxon had his comments held up since he has a new HN account so I'm passing this along from him: "You could send the same information to and from your devices using either SMS Commands or data but it would likely cost you a lot more to use SMS Commands. While our prices start at $0.10 per MB, we bill you in bytes. For example, if each time your devic…

Ah ok, so it's not a thing you'd use for constantly sending commands.

Re: Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

#133

Post by Nextgrid »

dane-pgp wrote: post #120
Apofis wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brilliant! Get this man investments!

Who is going to fund a company whose business model involves making people hear mysterious voices from on high? Well, I suppose angel investors might.

Just replace the creepy voices with ads and watch the money roll in.

Re: Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

#134

Post by jamestimmins »

stjo wrote: post #94
Confiks wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can imagine such a device would be quite disconcerting to Winston and Julia as well, hidden away in a natural clearing; around a tiny grassy knoll surrounded by tall saplings that shut it in completely.

Orwell underestimated our ability to make surveillance devices tiny and sprinkle them everywhere

He also underestimated our willingness to buy our own surveillance devices and put them in our homes

Re: Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

#135

Post by culturestate »

Nextgrid wrote: post #133
dane-pgp wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is going to fund a company whose business model involves making people hear mysterious voices from on high? Well, I suppose angel investors might.

Just replace the creepy voices with ads and watch the money roll in.

In college, some friends and I tried to build a detection system that would predict conversation lulls in public spaces - like when you're in a restaurant and it randomly gets quiet - so we could insert premium audio ads at those moments.

We never got it working, but when I see stuff like this sometimes I still think about it.

Re: Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

#138

Post by jsjohnst »

jsjohnst wrote: post #127
matjaxon wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep Arduino's or RaspberryPis are solid platforms to get started with. We have a couple quickstarts that you can checkout. https://www.twilio.com/blog/super-sim-quickstart-adafruit-fo... https://www.twilio.com/blog/super-sim-quickstart-arduino-mkr...

Just to confirm, but a GSM module won’t work for AT&T (but will for the time being for T-Mobile) in the US, right? To my knowledge, AT&T has shut down most (all?) of their GSM network and is only LTE (in its various flavors).

Just to circle back here, seems the official date of AT&T shutting down their 2G (GSM/GPRS) happened in Jan 2017. Their 3G (HSDPA/UMTS) network is tentatively scheduled for about 1.5yrs from now.

So my suggestion, if you’re building anything IoT like on AT&T, make sure you are using LTE-A, LTE-M, or NB-IoT for your radios or you’ll have a short operational life, if at all.

Re: Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

#139

Post by humancell »

jsjohnst wrote: post #138
jsjohnst wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to confirm, but a GSM module won’t work for AT&T (but will for the time being for T-Mobile) in the US, right? To my knowledge, AT&T has shut down most (all?) of their GSM network and is only LTE (in its various flavors).

Just to circle back here, seems the official date of AT&T shutting down their 2G (GSM/GPRS) happened in Jan 2017. Their 3G (HSDPA/UMTS) network is tentatively scheduled for about 1.5yrs from now. So my suggestion, if you’re building anything IoT like on AT&T, make sure you are using LTE-A, LTE-M, or NB-IoT for your radios or you’ll have a short operational life, if at all.

Yes ... I work for Twilio as an IoT SE - there are a lot of great and inexpensive modules that you can use. Stay away from anything 2G/3G as they are being shut down as bands are being reallocated. Also, avoid the "quad band" solutions that are advertised.

I usually buy SIMCom modules from Ali Express. The SIM7000A or G, SIM7070G. The A is usually North American bands, and the G is global bands. There are E versions for Europe. These are CAT-M1 and NB-IoT modules, and I usually use the CAT-M.

NB-IoT is a great idea, but depending on where in the world you are it might not exist. Also, Super SIM does not currently support NB-IoT. We have a different T-Mobile SIM for that. If you really want to go NB-IoT, then the SIM7020{x} is a good module to develop with, or the Quectel BC66.

There are also some great projects now running code directly on the cellular modules. Search github for Wiz-IO. Georgi is brilliant in what he's doing, and supports numerous languages running directly on the Quectel modules.

Re: Twilio Super Sim – Public Beta

#140

Post by webmaven »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #100
matjaxon wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question! Super SIM has a feature called Network Access Profiles that lets you pick exactly which cellular networks you want your devices to be able to connect to. A lot of other cellular solutions, Twilio’s other cellular connectivity solution included, give you really rudimentary control such as do you want access to the United States (yes/no) and do you want the rest of the world (yes/no). Network Access Pro…

What I mean more is, once those devices are connected to "the network" is there a way to limit the usage of those SIMs so they could only connect to my systems, and not connect to "the internet" at large.

Seems like that's something you would design into the device itself (or rather, its software), whitelisting allowed domains or IPs.
Post reply on HN