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When to expect 3G Network Sunsets (Shutdowns) and Why?

3G Network Sunsets
A cell tower carrying antennas

Radio frequencies can be thought of as Real Estate in the world of mobile communications. Like Real Estate there is only so many radio frequencies available. This finite resource can, therefore be either very expensive to buy new licenses or impossible because there are no licenses available for “new” frequencies (aka Bands). 

As Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s) introduce new technology, or generations of data transmission methods, the MNO’s have to find a band they license to utilize for that new technology like 5G. Data transmission technology is always evolving, and since there are finite resources there is a need to “re-farm” the bands on which they hold licenses to operate these newer technologies. This is the fundamental reason why old technology like 3G are being shutdown (or “sunsetted”).

In the next few years, we expect there will be many MNO’s  sunsetting 3G. Here is a list of some MNO’s and the probable date of their 3G sunset:

Country Network Probable 3G Sunset
Australia Telstra Corporation Limited June 2024
Canada Rogers Communications Canada Inc. 2025
China China Mobile 2020
Denmark Telia 2023
Denmark TT-Netværket P/S starts April 2021
Finland TeliaSonera Finland Oyj 2023
Germany Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. oHG 2022
Germany Vodafone D2 GmbH June 2021
Greece Vodafone Greece 2022
India Airtel 2020
Indonesia PT Indonesian Satellite Corporation Tbk (INDOSAT) 2020
Indonesia Telkomsel Indonesia 2020
Iraq Telecom Ltd 2020
Italy Vodafone Italia S.p.A. January 2021
Japan NTT DoCoMo, Inc. March 2026
Lithuania Telia Lietuva 2022
Malaysia DiGi Telecommunications 2021
Malaysia Maxis Communications Berhad 2021
Myanmar Telenor Myanmar 2025 – 2027
Netherlands KPN Mobile The Netherlands B.V. January 2022
Netherlands Vodafone Libertel B.V. 2020
Norway TeliaSonera Norge AS 2020
San Marino Vodafone Italia S.p.A. 2021
Saudi Arabia Saudi Telecom Company 2022
Spain Telefónica Móviles España 2025
Sweden TeliaSonera Sverige AB 2025
Taiwan Taiwan Mobile Co. Ltd 2019
United States AT&T February 2022
United States T-Mobile 3G  July 1, 2022
United States Verizon Wireless Announced 2020 – Pushed
Vatican City Vodafone Italia S.p.A. 2021

If you are operating IoT devices on these networks, you will need to address the situation and upgrade your devices before the network closes.

We have helped many clients with this transition and we would be happy to have a conversation with you to explore your options. For example, if you are operating a fleet tracking solution on 3G telematics devices in the USA and you need to move to 4G we currently provide service on all 3 major US networks (AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon) on a single SIM card with a single APN. Of course, we offer many other countries on that same single SIM and single APN.

Contact one of our experts by email at sales@onesimcard.com to see if you qualify for free SIM cards as you transition.

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OneSimCard’s IoT Service in the USA Now Combines all 3 Major Carriers: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to Provide the Best Overall Coverage

OneSimCard IoT SIM USA Coverage
Combining AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile on a Single SIM Ensures the Greatest Coverage & Unsurpassed Redundancy in the USA

OneSimCard IoT, a Global leader in IoT connectivity, is excited to announce the launch of a new SIM card connectivity solution for the United States market which combines all three major carriers in the USA: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile for data and SMS access on a single SIM card solution. This solution gives customers, who have connectivity requirements in the USA, full redundancy on the country’s 3 largest networks.

Having this access on a single SIM is critical because there is no need for a dual SIM device or guessing which SIM is best for a particular area. OneSimCard IoT also doesn’t “steer” traffic to a particular network. When the no steering SIM card is inserted and activated, the customer’s device is allowed to determine the best network to use at that time and location. Because this single SIM card solution includes AT&T, Verizon, & T-Mobile, the coverage options are tremendously expanded. 

This OneSimCard IoT SIM card connectivity solution also offers data and SMS service in over 160 countries worldwide with many countries offering redundant networks. This global SIM operates on a single APN and on OneSimCard IoT’s powerful OSCAR SIM Management platform, making multi-country deployments simple.

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OneSimCard OSCAR Prepaid Account Overview Video Now Available

OneSimCard IoT Connectivity pricing plans fall into 2 general categories: Pay-as-you-go (Prepaid) & Pooled with offer rates as low as $0.01/MB in both categories.

Prepaid accounts are perfect for those who are uncertain of their data consumption needs, or where individual IoT devices consume a vastly different amount of data per month.

With prepaid accounts, each SIM is funded from an existing balance on the account. The SIM billing can be set-up in 2 ways: Pay-As-You-Go per MB or with a discount plan starting at 5MB per SIM. Each SIM can have a different plan giving you a tremendous amount of flexibility in your deployment.

In this video:

Dashboard 00:00​
SIM Cards Settings 1:33
SIM Card Alarms 5:10​
SIM Card Activation Templates 5:39​
Billing 6:07​
Reports 7:14 ​
VPN 7:40
Admins 8:10​
Profile 8:32
Rates 8:41
Help / Support 8:52

Learn more about Global IoT SIM Card connectivity solutions including Pooled and Pay-As-You-Go account, APN, VPN, Static IP’s and IMEI Lock at iot.onesimcard.com

Learn more about OneSimCard OSCAR IoT SIM Platform here.

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OneSimCard OSCAR Pooled Account Overview Video Now Available

OneSimCard IoT Connectivity pricing plans fall into 2 general categories: Pay-as-you-go (Prepaid) & Pooled with offer rates as low as $0.01/MB in both categories.

IoT connectivity clients choose Pooled accounts when they have a general idea about their data usage and their IoT devices require a similar amount of cellular data traffic. Data in this category of plans pools across all active devices on the account.

Each active SIM contributes an equal amount of data into the pool. Plan sizes can range from 50KB to 50TB per SIM– simply tell us what you need, and we will design a custom plan for your particular project.

In this video:

Dashboard 00:00
SIM Cards Settings 1:03
SIM Card Alarms 3:23
SIM Card Activation Templates 3:38
Billing 4:04
Reports 4:38
VPN 5:05
Admins 5:35
Profile 6:04
Rates 6:10
Help / Support 6:37

Learn more about Global IoT SIM Card connectivity solutions including Pooled and Pay-As-You-Go account, APN, VPN, Static IP’s and IMEI Lock at iot.onesimcard.com

Learn more about OneSimCard OSCAR IoT SIM Platform here.

 

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OSCAR App now available on iOS!

1SIM IoT App

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the OneSimCard IoT App for iOS devices!

The IoT App allows you to have access to most of the OSCAR functions right from your iOS device. The App is currently available at no cost in the App Store. Download it today and take OSCAR with you anywhere! The Android OSCAR App is also available and can be downloaded from the Google Play here.

To learn more about 1SIM IoT app for IoT and M2M card management, visit the 1SIM IoT page.

Lean more about the OSCAR IoT SIM Card Management platform here.

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Set a Future Date for Blocking & Deactivating (Removing) an IoT SIM Card

Schedule SIM Card Deactivation or Removal

Often times, you might have a device where there is a date in the future when you want the SIM to be Blocked or Deactivated/Removed from the account, and managing these dates can be a huge challenge. To address this need, we have added functionality in the OSCAR Platform to set a date for these functions.

Possible use cases include:

    • You have an end customer with one of your devices who pays on a “subscription” basis, e.g. monthly, quarterly, annually, etc. and you want the device to only work while their account is in good standing;
    • You have a device that is meant for a project for a set time period and you want to shut it off automatically at the end of the project timeframe;

You can find this feature in the SIM Settings tab of OSCAR (SIM CARDS>Settings of the SIM), or in the batch operation menu at the bottom of the SIM card page. This function is available in both PAYG and Pooled account types. We are also expecting to add this function to our API list as well. Look for this in the coming months.

Lean more about the OSCAR IoT SIM Card Management platform here.

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Using Templates to Activate or Update Existing SIM Card Settings

IoT SIM Settings Template
Use Default or Create Your Own IoT SIM Settings Templates

We were asked by a number of customers to allow the use of pre-configured templates when activating SIM cards because some of the settings are the same based on a particular use case. The use case may differ across all of your SIM cards, though, and it would be useful to select a previously created template to activate a new SIM card which will update all of the appropriate settings on the SIM including

For PAYG Accounts:

  • Enable Auto-recharge with pre-defined amounts, limits, and SIM minimum balance
  • Set Device Model Type
  • Set User Name (many clients use this for their customer name, or device location, or IMEI of the device, etc.…think of this as a “nickname” for the SIM card)
  • Set an initial balance on the SIM Card
  • Assign a Discount Data Plan on the SIM card
  • Assign Static IP address (of enabled on your account
  • Set notification if the balance of the SIM card goes below a certain amount

For Pooled Accounts:

  • Set Device Model Type
  • Set a monthly Data Limit
  • Set End User Name
  • Assign Static IP address

You can save as many templates as you need so ensure you can activate a SIM with all of the appropriate settings for that SIM with a single click. You can also choose as many of the available fields as you wish; use them all or use only one…it’s completely in your hands!

What’s more, you can use this feature to update existing SIMs on your account. Once you have at least one template saved on your account, simply

  1. Select the SIM cards you want to update;
  2. Choose the “Apply SIM Activation Template” option from the batch operation menu at the bottom of the SIM Card page;
  3. Choose the template you want to use!
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Digi-Key and OneSimCard Announce Distribution Partnership to Enable IoT Providers & Manufacturers with International Connectivity

Digi-KeyDigi-Key Electronics and Boston based OneSimCard IoT have partnered to provide a turn-key global cellular connectivity solution for IoT product manufacturers and IoT services providers.

Boston, Massachusetts, USA – Today, OneSimCard IoT and Digi-Key Electronics are excited to announce their strategic distribution partnership. In this partnership, OneSimCard will provide international IoT SIM card connectivity solutions for Digi-Key’s IoT hardware customers. OneSimCard’s solution includes 2FF/3FF/4FF & MFF2 SIM form factors which operate over OneSimCard’s OSCAR SIM Management portal. Some other solutions offered include Private APN, VPN, Static IP, IMEI Locking.

OneSimCard IoT’s non-steering SIM solution provides 2G/3G/4G LTE//Cat M & Cat M-1, connections in over 160 countries with one APN for easy deployment anywhere.

In most countries, there are multiple cellular networks available providing both redundancy and guaranteed best coverage available. Customers can choose simple, flexible, and cost-effective data plans, both Pooled and Pay-As-You-Go plan types, that suit their needs and with no long-term commitments.

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New API Command Available for Pooled Accounts

As of October 6, 2020 we upgraded the API command document to
include setting data limits on Pooled accounts. If you are using API integration to the OSCAR portal, you will now be able to set the upper limit for a SIM card through this integration.

Please refer to the API documentation in the Help section of the OSCAR Platform for the complete list of API commands.