Cellular Module - what do I need to make it go?

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I was thinking about buying a Cellular Module for a project. For some reason, I thought that the module’s product page used to say something about requiring a SIM card or something in order for it to work. Now, when I look at the product page, I don’t see any mention of a SIM card. So, I guess I’m wondering, if a buy a Cellular module, what do I have to do to connect it to a cellular network? Anything? I would guess that I need some sort of cellular service provider in order to for the module to connect to their network, but I’m not sure.

Sorry if this is obvious, but I was hoping someone could explain how this works before I buy the module.

Thanks!

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Yes, you need a SIM card to use the module. It will connect to just about any network as long as you fit a SIM in it.

Out of the box you should be able to send and receive SMS. For data, you’ll need a bit of work as the current driver is not really ideal. If you have no experience of cellular modems and how to use them, this will be a little uphill struggle depending on how much coding experience you have.

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Thanks Dave!

I found ReadySim (http://www.readysim.com/) offers prepaid SIM cards for a small amount of money. It looks like they have “Data Only” cards with 500MB for 14 days, 1GB for 14 days, and 2GBfor 30 days. They offer Standard SIM cards and Micro SIM cards.

Do you think these cards would work with the module? What size? (Mini, Standard)

Thanks

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It’s standard size and they should work just fine.

The only thing I can think of and can’t find anything on the site is if the SIM is locked to the IMEI of the device so not sure if you could register on a phone and then put in the cellular module. Might be worth asking this question first.

If it is, then just put it in the module and send the SMS from it or do as the website says and wait 8 mins to automatically get a number :slight_smile: