Support
FAQs

Frequently asked questions

Here are some of the frequently asked questions received by Wireless Logic – it’s not an exhaustive list, but it is designed to address many of the areas often raised by customers and partners.

General SIMPro Platform Connectivity Market and Sector Acronyms

General

M2M is an acronym for Machine to Machine. As the name describes, proactive human involvement is seldom part of the one or two-way communication process.

The idea behind the technology is to streamline the way data is collected from physical devices and incorporated into IT systems [connectivity] – without having to rely on people to intervene within the process.

IoT is an acronym for Internet of Things. The technical definition of The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects accessed through the Internet. These objects contain embedded technology to interact with internal states or the external environment. In other words, when an object can sense and communicate, it changes how and where decisions are made, and who makes them.

A Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) on a removable SIM Card securely stores the service-subscriber key (IMSI) used to identify a subscriber on mobile telephony devices (such as computers) and mobile phones.

Access Point Name or APN is the name of an access point for GPRS/3G/HSDPA/HSUPA.

An access point is:

• An Internet network to which a mobile can be connected
• A set of settings which are used for that connection
• A particular option in a set of settings in a mobile phone

A Private APN gives a customer direct access to their LAN and allows them to specify certain parameters such as the private address space allocated to the devices & RADIUS server attributes for user authentication.

You are also able to access the Internet – policy dependant.

The benefit is that the traffic is secure and never goes on to a public network, staying completely on GPRS/3G/4G. This lessens complexity in the communications path and is one less point of failure in the system.

As it is secure, this means that you will not be open to attack external parties, such as spammers or virus-based activities.

Every machine on the Internet has a unique identifying number, called an IP Address. A typical IP address looks like this:

216.27.61.137

To make it easier to remember, IP addresses are normally expressed in decimal format as a ‘dotted decimal number’ as illustrated above.

To make it easier to remember, IP addresses are normally expressed in decimal format as a ‘dotted decimal number’ as illustrated above.

An easy way to understand what an IP address is to compare it to a postal address. The IP address contains the country, county, town, street and building number. With this information, data can be routed to all machines. If a machine has no IP address, no data will be able to reach it.

Public IP addresses are IP addresses that are visible to the public.

Because these IP addresses are public, they allow other people to know about and access the device, like a Web server.

Every network provider has a public APN. When the SIM card is enabled for data e.g. GPRS/3G etc the public APN is added by default.

A Public APN is open for everyone to use.

An IP address is considered private if the IP number falls within one of the IP address ranges reserved for private uses by Internet standards groups. These private IP address ranges exist through the following ranges:

10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255
169.254.0.0 through 169.254.255.255 (APIPA only)
172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255

Private IP addresses are typically used on local networks including home, school and business LANs including airports and hotels. Devices with private IP addresses cannot connect directly to the Internet. Likewise, computers outside the local network cannot connect directly to a device with a private IP. Instead, access to such devices must be brokered by a router or similar device that supports Network Address Translation (NAT). NAT hides the private IP numbers but can selectively transfer messages to these devices, affording a layer of security to the local network.

A fixed IP address is sometimes known as a static IP address. It is an address that is assigned to a computer by an Internet service provider (ISP) to be its permanent address on the Internet.

Computers use IP addresses to locate and talk to each other on the Internet, much the same way people use phone numbers to locate and talk to one another on the telephone. The machine will retain that IP address no matter how many times it connects/disconnects from a network.

This in simple terms is the opposite of a fixed IP address. When a machine connects to the network, an IP address is assigned to it. However, when the machine disconnects, it loses the IP address

The next time the machine connects, it will pick up a new IP address.

With a fixed Public IP address, you can connect to your device from any machine anywhere. You do not need to set up a VPN tunnel. This is an ideal solution for customers who do not have a firewall or do not require to set up a VPN tunnel of some type. However, as it is a public IP address, the device is open for anyone to connect to if they know the IP address.

Therefore, security is down to the customer. If you have a 3G/GPRS router then it is highly recommended you set up a logon page so that unauthorised access can be stopped.

The IP address for the device is ‘hidden’. As a result, the device cannot be accessed from any machine anywhere unless there is a secure VPN tunnel set up between the device and the machine. This creates an additional level of security for those who deem their data to be highly sensitive.

A VPN is a private network that uses a public network (usually the Internet) to connect to devices with Private IP addresses from a machine on your LAN or from home. Instead of using a dedicated, real-world connection such as leased line, a VPN uses ‘virtual’ connections routed through the Internet from the company’s private network to the remote device.

The VPN tunnel would be used for those who have a private IP address on their SIMs.

A site-to-site VPN tunnel is where two firewalls are used to create a VPN tunnel. At Wireless Logic, we use IPSEC VPN tunnels. We configure a firewall on our side and then send the config parameters to the customer. The customer would then need to enter the config parameters onto their firewall/router.

This would then enable any machine(s) on a company’s LAN to connect to its devices with our m2m SIMs and vice versa. This is an always-on VPN connection. To create a site-to-site tunnel, customers would need to have a hardware firewall/router capable of setting up an IPSEC VPN tunnel.

For those customers who require a Private IP address but do not have a hardware firewall/router, they can download our Sonicwall NetExtender VPN client. We would set up the customer with a username and password. the customer would then enter that when to start up the VPN client.

This will then create a VPN tunnel from the machine with the client to the devices with the SIM cards. As soon as the client is disconnected, the VPN tunnel will be broken. Any machine anywhere that has the VPN client installed will be able to access the devices with private IP addresses.

GPRS stands for General Packet Radio Service. It is a wireless technology used by GSM [why choose wireless logic] (Global System for Mobile) networks which enables Internet and other data communication.

Because it is packet-based, you can stay online for an unlimited amount of time as only downloaded data is monitored with this service.

Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) across the globe are phasing out their GPRS/2G networks to make way for 5G.  For more information click here.

3G stands for third generation, a generic wireless industry term for high-speed mobile data delivery over mobile networks. [end to end broadband connectivity] 3G networks allow users to send and receive bandwidth-intensive information such as video, video conferencing, high quality audio and web data on-demand, virtually anytime and anywhere.

Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) across the globe are phasing out their 3G networks to make way for 5G. For more information click here.

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is a new mobile telephony protocol and is sometimes referred to as a 3.5G (or 3½G) technology. HSDPA provides a smooth evolutionary path for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks allowing for higher data capacity (up to 14.4 Mbit/s per cell in the downlink and 2 Mbit/s in the uplink per cell).

High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) is a 3G mobile telephony protocol in the HSPA family with up-link speeds up to 5.76 Mbit/s.

Global System for Mobile communications, [case study – tekview solutions] the second generation digital technology originally developed for Europe but which now has in excess of 71 per cent of the world market.

Initially developed for operation in the 900MHz band and subsequently modified for the 850, 1800 and 1900MHz bands. GSM originally stood for Groupe Speciale Mobile, the CEPT committee which began the GSM standardisation process.

HLR stands for ‘Home Location Register’, it is the network database that holds details of every customer SIM card. When a customer wants to access a service, the network checks the HLR to see whether the customer is authorised to do so.

It also keeps track of customers’ locations so incoming calls and SMS’ can be connected.

Is a number uniquely identifying a subscription in a GSM or a UMTS mobile network. Simply put, it is the telephone number to the SIM card in a mobile/cellular phone.

4G is the mobile phone network using the Internet with speeds five times faster than 3G. It is suited to more volume data applications.

SIMPro is Wireless Logic’s SIM managemeng platform, and the tool behind a user’s complete visibility, control, billing and management of SIM estates, regardless of mobile network. Designed to view the activity of large SIM estates, SIMPro is integrated with all customers’ managed services packages when combined with SIM subscriptions.

Today, SIMPro can manage and control multiple leading Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) – all through one window. For M2M/IoT estate owners of all sizes, there is no other platform that is so flexible or tailored to the market.

As part of the SIMPro platform BillPro empowers users to manage their billing administration in line with their own systems and procedures. Users can view their latest invoices instantly, download usage reports at the click of a button, view GPRS, SMS and CSD usage in monetary value, search and sort high data SIMs by username or CTN as well as drill down data usage by time, date, duration and bytes.

BillPro gives customers complete usage and corresponding financial visibility across their entire subscribed SIM estate. Infrastructure, mapping, connectivity, other value-added services are all delivered on one invoice and all instantly available through one window.

In the latest version of our SIMPro platform, we have introduced the concept of a ‘Customer Solution’; which is an activation profile. This solution contains all of the details needed to activate the SIM to the customer unique configuration.

So now when customers come to activate a SIM, you will simply be asked to pick the Customer Solution to use for that connection, providing a quick and efficient way to connect multiple SIM cards.

Wireless Logic offer a wide range of connection types to suit the customer’s requirement. These include the following:

• Public APN Dynamic
• Public APN Fixed
• Private Fixed No VPN
• Private APN Public Fixed
• Private APN IPSEC VPN
• Private APN IPSEC With BGP
• Private APN SSL
• Private APN Open VPN
• Private APN Custom Interconnect
• Managed Customer APN Fixed IP
• Managed Customer APN Dynamic IP

Industry 4.0 is a name given to the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing and cognitive computing (source: Wikipedia)

Questions on our SIM Management Platform – SIMPro

SIMPro is the engine behind a user’s complete visibility, control, billing and management of SIM estates, regardless of mobile network. Designed to view the activity of large SIM estates, SIMPro is integrated with all customers’ managed services packages when combined with SIM subscriptions.

Today, SIMPro can manage and control multiple leading Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) – all through one window. For M2M/IoT estate owners of all sizes, there is no other platform that is so flexible or tailored to the market.

As part of the SIMPro platform BillPro empowers users to manage their billing administration in line with their own systems and procedures. Users can view their latest invoices instantly, download usage reports at the click of a button, view GPRS, SMS and CSD usage in monetary value, search and sort high data SIMs by username or mobile number as well as drill down data usage by time, date, duration and bytes.

BillPro gives customers complete usage and corresponding financial visibility across their entire subscribed SIM estate. Infrastructure, mapping, connectivity, other value-added services are all delivered on one invoice and all instantly available through one window.

In the latest version of our SIMPro platform, we have introduced the concept of a ‘Customer Solution’; which is an activation profile. This solution contains all of the details needed to activate the SIM to the customer unique configuration.

So now when customers come to activate a SIM, you will simply be asked to pick the Customer Solution to use for that connection, providing a quick and efficient way to connect multiple SIM cards.

Billing cycles are pro-rated line rental and usage charges which include activations and cancellations, all back-dated to an agreed billing date. The billing cycle will always include the current month’s line rental, along with the previous month’s usage.

Invoices will feature the SIM mobile number, Custom Field 1 of the SIMPro custom field tag, plus a summay of all charges per SIM, per service.

Log onto the SIMPro management platform. Select BillPro from the main menu, where further reports can be accessed. Alternatively, contact the Wireless Logic Sales Admin team.

Email Us

Payment terms are strictly 30 days from date of invoice. We encourage all customers to set up a Direct Debit mandate.

Up to five Custom Field Labels are available to support the identification of a SIM. For each field 50 characters can be used. Each field can be labelled. Note that Customer Field 1 is always featured within an invoice. The Custom Fields can be use to tag connections with identifiable data – e.g Device ID

All SIMPro users are encouraged to use their own username and password. All interactions on SIMPro have an audit trail. Two-factor authorisation is used.

Billing Account password. Everytime a user calls to speak to us, validation of your identity will be required: – characters from your Billing Account Password will need to be communicated. The password is held at Billing Account level – this means one password per account.

A range of training programmes available – on-site training, online training, and instruction manuals. Talk to your account manager to identify what is best for you/your team.

For SIMs supplied in Active Test mode, the SIM receives a free amount of data for early stage testing. Billing of the SIM only commences when one of a number of thresholds are met… Time threshold, Data threshold, SMS threshold or Voice threshold.

For SIMs supplied with Active Ready status, the SIM contracted cost is charged the first time the SIM is used.

Subject to the contractual requirements of given networks, a Tariff Holiday enables SIMs to be put to sleep during a quieter period, with the contract extended to complete its term upon recommencement of the SIM becoming live again.

Billing Account Groups exist where Data is shared amongst a number of related companies.

Managing users is the ability to perform a number of administrative tasks including – create new user, reset passwords and disable users. Managing users is the simple way to make your SIMPro platform more accessible to nominated people.

Our standard Service Level Agreement is available via your contact at Wireless Logic. SLA performance is measured consistently with published results accessible for all customers. Measuring criteria include Net Promoter Score (NPA) which records customer loyalty and satisfaction.

The SMS functionality with SIMPro enables a dedicated Inbox for both inbound and outbound activity.

Connectivity

When a SIM-based device is powered on, it performs a location update procedure by indicating its IMSI to the network. The first location update procedure is called the ‘IMSI attach procedure’.

When device is powered-off, it performs an ‘IMSI detach procedure’ in order to tell the network that it is no longer connected. When a device is switched on in a new network (for example, the user has moved to a new country) or the subscriber moves to a different operator’s Mobile Network, the subscriber must register with the new network to indicate its current location.

Location updates are always triggered by the SIM-based device. As a device moves between different location areas, it will generate a new location update.

A SIM refresh will attempt to trigger a cancel locate that shuts down all open sessions, causing the SIM to send an update location request. It will re-set the APNs at network level.

A SIM will be purged after a period of inactivity/becomes idle. This is where the Mobile Network will remove the connection which will require the SIM to reboot for a new connection. Applications are either required to connect to a network regularly, or alternatively switch-off after activity.

A SIM may fall off the Network or enter a purged status for one of the following reasons:

  • In order to free up capacity for other users, the network will periodically remove users from cell sites if connectivity is not frequently shown by the SIM.
  • A SIM may enter a purged state if it has been idle for a significant period.
  • If the SIM is no longer in a device– a SIM will most likely appear as purged

If a SIM leaves the vicinity of a network, before establishing connection to another cell site (this usually occurs when SIMs are moving from location to location at speed e.g. vehicle trackers).

When this happens the Mobile Network is unable to process traffic to or from the SIM, it is in effect ‘lost from the network’.

If you have access to the device, you can perform a number of exercises to attempt to clear the status manually.

  • Force the device to switch between 2G to 3G
  • Reboot/power cycle the device by turning it off and on.
  • Remove the SIM from the device and test both GSM and GPRS using a dongle or mobile phone – send a SMS and connect to the internet.

Customer Satisfaction is measured in a number of ways:

We collect feedback from every case raised using a simple measure for satisfaction of service.  Further compliments/complaints can be made online via the web or email.

Feedback received is apportioned Group-wide, company-wide, across each company department and individually. Reporting is bi-weekly.

Market and Sector Acronyms

Form Factor versions in use

Second Generation

Form Factor versions in use

Third Generation

Form Factor versions in use

Fourth Generation

Application Enablement Platform

Access Terminal Commands

Amazon Web Services

Building Management Systems

Compound Aggregated Growth Rate

Call Data Record

Connectivity Management Platform

Constrained Application Protocol

Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association

Customer Telephone Number

Device Management Platform

Delete Subscriber Device

Evolved Packet Core

Universal Integrated Circuit Card

Gateway GPRS Support Node

General Packet Radio Services

Global Positioning System

Global System for Mobile Communications Association

Home Location Register

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol

Integrated Circuit Card Identifier

Industrial Internet Consortium

Industrial Internet of Things

International Mobile Equipment Identity

International Mobile Station Equipment Identity number: A unique serial number given to a device which will identify it rather than the subscriber.

International Mobile Subscriber Identifier: A unique number usually 15 digits associated with the global system for mobile communications (GSM) and universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network mobile phone users. IMSI is unique number to identify a GSM subscriber.

Industry 4.0 is a name given to the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing and cognitive computing (source: Wikipedia)

Internet of Everything

Internet of Things

Local Area Network

Low Powered Wide Area Network

Long Term Evolution

Long Term Evolution for Machines: LTE Cat M1 is a new cellular technology specifically designed for the needs of applications targeting the Internet of Things (IoT) or machine-to-machine (M2M) communications

Location Updates

Lightweight Machine to Machine protocol from the Open Mobile Alliance

Machine to Machine

Manufacturing Form Factor SIM

Multimedia Message Service

Mobile Network Core

Mobile Network Operator

Message Queuing Telemetry Transport

Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number

Mobile Virtual Network Enabler

Mobile Virtual Network Operator

Minimal Viable Product

Narrow band Internet of Things – a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology standard developed by 3GPP to enable a wide range of cellular devices and services.

Near Field Communication

Next Generation Networks

Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

On-board Diagnostics

Open Connectivity Foundation

Original Equipment Manufacturer

Open Mobile Alliance

Preferred List of Mobile Networks

Proof of Concept

Push to Talk over Cellular

Push to Talk

Pin Unlock Key

Serving GPRS Support Node

Subscriber Identity Module

Subscription Management – Data Preparation

Subscription Management – Secure Routing

Small Message Service/ Short Message Service

Short Message Service Core

Temporary IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

Voice over Internet Protocol

Worldwide Web Consortium

Wide Area Network

Wireless Application Protocol

Wireless Local Area Network

What you see is what you get

Wireless Logic

Keep up-to-date
The latest IoT news and insights straight to your inbox!






























      If you'd like to be kept informed of our news and industry updates please tick the box below: