4G SIM NewsIf you use a 4G Router and 4G SIM card for remote access and monitoring then you will know that the price of using a Fixed IP SIM Card can be quite high, especially when using large amounts of data each month. For example when installing a CCTV solution using a 4G Fixed IP SIM Card can cost around £30 per month for just 5GB of inclusive data and if you go over your inclusive monthly allowance then there are overage charges of around £15.00 per GB. This means that if you forget to disconnect from viewing your CCTV images over 4G for the weekend you could end up with a bill running into the hundreds of pounds and if your users do not realise and leave their connection permanently open, streaming live video then the cost can easily spiral into thousands of pounds.
The easy solution to prevent overspend when using a 4G router with a Fixed IP SIM Card is to either set your router up to alert your when the data limit is reached or in the worst case scenario to switch of the 4G connection, which will mean your router and CCTV will be unreachable. The other easy solution is to ensure that your Fixed IP SIM card provider can either warn you via SMS or email when your SIM card is nearing is monthly data allowance, or to switch the SIM card off when the limit is reached. Again switching off the connection until the start of the following month will mean that your CCTV system will be unable to send alerts when the 4G connection is down.
With the advent of 5G, meaning faster download speeds and higher costs many CCTV installers that want to use mobile broadband for their internet connection will want to take advantage of faster 5G speeds, but providing a 5G CCTV Internet solution using a 5G router and 5G Fixed IP SIM card still has the same obstacle of limited data allowances every month and the possibility of bill shock when the CCTV data exceeds the monthly allowance.
Unlimited Data SIM Card
Some mobile networks offer unlimited data SIM cards for use with smartphones. For example, 3Mobile offer an unlimited data 4G SIM Card for around £30 per month, and if used in a location where there is a 5G basestation the phone can also use unlimited 5G data. This type of unlimited data SIM card plan would be ideal for 4G CCTV or 5G CCTV installations apart from the fact that these contracts are only for use in a smartphone and the mobile networks may bar the use of the SIM in a 4G or 5G router and the other obstacle is that this unlimited data SIM card does not have a Fixed IP address so you will be unable to remotely access your 4G or 5G router and this means that port forwarding will not work and you will be unable to access your connected CCTV equipment.
Unlimited Fixed IP SIM Card
At present there are no Fixed IP SIM card providers that offer unlimited data SIM card packages. All of the Fixed IP data SIM cards have monthly inclusive data allowances. However there are some new solutions being made available allowing for almost unlimited 4G data and 5G data connections with a Fixed IP address. For example there is a solution that provides 500GB of data per month for only £250 per month or 1TB of data per month for £350.00 monthly rental and this provides a manged 4G or 5G service. This is a viable alternative to an unlimited data fixed IP SIM card compared to traditional solutions with lower inclusive monthly data allowances.
Other solutions can involve installing a VPN server at your head office and using an unlimited data 4G SIM card in your remote sites, and configuring these routers as VPN clients and connecting to your head office VPN server. This would mean that users in your head office could communicate with the remote devices and anybody outside of the office could create a VPN from their PC to the office VPN server and then they could also connect to the remote devices. This of course would mean investment in a VPN server and somebody to manage and run the remote sites and to organise the management of IP subnets etc.
With the introduction of new 5G routers like the Teltonika 5G router and the Robustel R5020 5G router there will undoubtedly be a demand for unlimited data SIM cards with a fixed IP address. Which company will be the first to provide a real solution and break the hold that Fixed IP SIM card providers hold over the world of M2M remote access and monitoring using mobile broadband technology.