When you connect a new device to your IoT network, it’s difficult to know exactly how much data you’ll need, or how much it will use throughout any month. There can also be moments when usage fluctuates or dips, so choosing the right tariff can be problematic.

This creates a significant financial risk for businesses when rolling out connected solutions, if they underestimate the usage and choose a tariff too low, then they’ll be slapped with out of bundle charges which can be very pricey. Out of bundle rates can range anywhere between £10 to £0.10 per MB (£100 per GB).

If you fully understand your IoT devices and their consumption it isn’t so much of an issue but, for new role-outs or instances where software updates have to be done over the air (OTA), you always run the risk of using more data than initially planned and forecasted.

There is also the risk of a rogue device attaching to your system or a fault appearing which will need to rectified, adding consumption. Unforeseen and unpredicted events like these all create changes in usage.

Due to the cost of out of bundle data, users can get hit with unexpected bills that run to tens of thousands of pounds, and whilst network resellers like us at Zest4 IoT will do all we can to try to get the cost of the out of bundle data reduced, we are beholding to the networks who are always reluctant to give the charge up.

So, on to IP addresses and the difference they make in choosing data, we’ve discussed before the importance of the right IPs in this article. Historically if you needed a SIM with a fixed IP, unlimited data was not an option, the networks have only ever allowed these to be used as a Mobile Broadband solution (MBB). As such, the only option was unmanaged data with a dynamic IP address.

Taking a data bundle has been the only way to get a fixed IP, to mitigate risk taking the option of having an aggregated data pool rather than individual SIM bundles but this still does not take all the financial risk out of the equation.

The Solution

To help out our Partners, their end users and to make it easier and risk free to roll out a new IoT project, Zest4 IoT now offer an unlimited data SIM with a fair usage policy (FUP) of 500gb with a fixed IP.

Zest4 IoT offer this as managed data with the option of either a fixed public or fixed private IP. We also offer the option of adding a VPN if needed to really secure the IoT solution.

This proposition is now our biggest growth area, and we are seeing SIMs deployed across solutions in all sectors from security and CCTV through to transportation services, fixed line back up and replacement and many other bespoke projects.

So, if data consumption in an IoT roll out or solution is a concern to you, or one of your end users, get in touch and ask about how our unlimited data SIMs can help.