Twilio Super SIM • Hacker News Board

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#121

Post by ficklepickle » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:00 PM UTC

zius wrote: post #22

untog wrote: post #9

This is very cool tech, but it seems like a niche use-case. It's not made for consumers, and the vast majority of IoT devices barely move, let alone between countries. But , if I were working for a haulage company and was interested in tracking, say, truck location, speed etc across the whole of Europe I could see this being a great way to do it.

I am experimenting with GPS luggage tracking hardware with simple live-updates. This is potentially a great use-case.

That's cool! How do you deal with tracking while it doesn't have GPS signal?

WiFi I suppose, using a mapping from BSSID -> lat/long, like Mozilla Location Services or Combain.

What's the power consumption like from attempting to get a GPS lock? Luggage presumably spends most of it's life indoors. I imagine a WiFi scan uses less power than attempting to acquire a GPS signal.

I'm a hobbyist when it comes to hardware/IOT, I've been working on something similar but for RV's instead of luggage. Much harder constraints when it comes to luggage! RVs have power and room to spare.

Oh, you could put a small generator on the luggage wheels, to charge it a bit while wheeling the luggage around!

Sounds like a fun project.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#122

Post by gandutraveler » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:04 PM UTC

Google Fi should roll out something like this. They already have good global coverage and prices

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#123

Post by dqybh » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:06 PM UTC

kabes wrote: post #51

gambiting wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? Yes you can. I use a Polish SIM card(with Play) and use it all year round in UK, except for the 2-3 weeks or so when I'm back in Poland for holidays.

While you probably can. The law is written to prevent use cases like this, to avoid a race to the bottom between operators in different countries. Which makes sense since infrastructure costs can vary largely between countries, so it'd be unfair competition.

Interesting that they do this because they know infrastructure costs vary between countries but they don't give a shit about the price of electronic goods, services, etc in the single market.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#124

Post by dqybh » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:07 PM UTC

bufferoverflow wrote: post #67

fyfy18 wrote: post #55

At a first glance the pricing of $0.10 - $0.025 per megabyte in Europe seems somewhat expensive. The wholesale rate is €4.50 per gigabyte or $0.005c per megabyte. I assume the markup covers the cost of maintaining the account and the access to many networks worldwide. Can anyone who is already using GSM data in "IoT" devices comment on how much this compares to what you pay now?

€4.50/GB is absolutely insane for Europe. In Italy you can get 50GB for €7 From Kena or ho.mobile (€0.14/GB) or 50GB for €8 from Illiad (€0.16/GB). All at 4G speeds. https://www.kenamobile.it/prodotto/kena-6-99-limited-edition... https://www.ho-mobile.it/ https://www.iliad.it/offerta-iliad.html

Depends on the country, no? In Spain you get like 1 to 3 GB (depending on the operator) for 7€. And that's with very cheap operators with poor support.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#125

Post by dqybh » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:08 PM UTC

rsync wrote: post #62

gigatexal wrote: post #56

So could one use this as an international works anywhere sim?

I don't think this class of SIMs that Twilio offers are voice capable ... they do provide tmobile SIMs that are voice capable, but they call them something different ...

You can always use OTT voice.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#126

Post by aembleton » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:17 PM UTC

notatoad wrote: post #114

fermuch wrote: post #29

How is this different to Hologram[1] or EsEye[2]? Hologram seems to offer an api with as much access as twilio's (data usage report, switching between "networks" (what package you buy, which includes certain countries and pricing...) and monthly payment of a fleet of chips. I'm failing to see the added value of twilio, but the more competency the better! [1]: https://hologram.io/ [2]: https://www.eseye.com/

it looks like hologram's per-MB cost is 4x twilio's

But much cheaper per device. I guess it depends how much data you are expecting to transfer.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#127

Post by polonlove » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:28 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #79

bmsleight_ wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then we leave EU, alas and no of the consumer friendly law applies.

Well, yes, it remains unseen what happens once brexit actually happens. But this solution works at the moment, and I can only imagine it can also work in other EU countries.

I am from Norway and we love you, Polish people. <3

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#128

Post by mxwll » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:33 PM UTC

zrail wrote: post #113

Slightly off topic. I’m trying to find a SIM for my LTE modem (AT&T/T-mobile bands) that I got as a backup for my Comcast service. I’m looking for pay as you go with no or minimal monthly fees, a reasonable 4g price, and a fallback to unlimited 3g. Does anyone know of a data plan like that? I tried to use Twilio Wireless but they don’t have the fallback option.

Comcast offers Xfinity Mobile to their internet customers for free. You pay as you go for the data you use ($12/GB). You could probably tether a smartphone for data use.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#129

Post by sbr464 » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:36 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #9

This is very cool tech, but it seems like a niche use-case. It's not made for consumers, and the vast majority of IoT devices barely move, let alone between countries. But , if I were working for a haulage company and was interested in tracking, say, truck location, speed etc across the whole of Europe I could see this being a great way to do it.

They could move across countries/providers if you think of different use cases: devices on airplanes, boats, weather balloons, long range drones, shipping packages, luggage, etc.

Having a device not tied to a certain provider could allow a shipping container to pass between different owners without needing a proprietary device/plan.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#130

Post by joezydeco » Sat, May 11, 2019, 7:44 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #9

This is very cool tech, but it seems like a niche use-case. It's not made for consumers, and the vast majority of IoT devices barely move, let alone between countries. But , if I were working for a haulage company and was interested in tracking, say, truck location, speed etc across the whole of Europe I could see this being a great way to do it.

There's at least one payment terminal company out there with a world SIM in their POS system.

It's not the cheapest way to do that kind of system, but deployment is an order of magnitude easier. Unbox it and go.