Newbee to the forum. WebCam / cellular questions

[Andrew-Drouin]

Might anyone on this forum be able to chat with me about the current best account and best SIM card to acquire for a weather station that a group of us volunteers are looking to set up in the subalpine, within our BC Gov. Partnership Agreement XC-trail lands?

We are looking for an economical plan and need to get a handle on what the most cost-effective Public Mobile network plan we might acquire for something like 10 megabytes of data per day of text messages (pics' and text data).

I assume that we need A) a cellular SIM card, B) a data plan that will allow the weather station to send text messages to us a few times each day.

Any input is appreciated.

Tnx.

[Andrew-Drouin]

Indeed.  The plan is to make sure that I can make clear cell phone calls from the mountain location, down to the city below.  Luckily, the location that we'll set up in overlooks the valley below and the city of Penticton  🙂

Tnx.

Andrew 

[hTideGnow]

HI @tonisage 

OP already said it uses 30Mb a day, and for sending the MMS, it likely needs to download the picture (probably weather map) , so I think data is needed

Also, there is no voice only plan at the moment, so $19 1GB is the most economical plan OP can get (QC has $15 but OP is in BC and can't activate a QC plan)

[tonisage]

So, based on the OP's request, he/she might not even need the data bucket since MMS doesn't count towards data usage. Correct? If that is the case, the 19$ plan is ok then. Remember, OP wants something economical

[hTideGnow]

hi @tonisage 

MMS needs data turns on but it does not count towards the data usage

So, with 300Mb per month, and if OP has no worry about any sudden increase in data use, the $19 1GB might be sufficient and economical as what OP wants, $23 6GB just more peace of mind and no chance of overuse

[tonisage]

The user needs SMS and MMS from the description "text messages (pics' and text data)".

Text messages are unlimited, but MMS requires a data connection. My question is this: does MMS consume data? 

[tonisage]

19$/1gb you mean?

[hTideGnow]

HI@Andrew-Drouin ,

10 megabytes per day and that is 300 Mb per month.  the $19 1GB plan should be sufficient.  But PM is prepaid and data will stop working if limit reached, so, the $23 with 6GB would be nice and you don't have to worry about reaching the limit

thanks @tonisage  

[tonisage]

You must have missed this from his request.

"We are looking for an economical plan and need to get a handle on what the most cost-effective Public Mobile network plan we might acquire for something like 10 megabytes of data per day of text messages (pics' and text data)."

[slusagm]

you have to tell us how much data is needed for that weather station. Also, the weather station send regular text? or send app messages like Whatsapp or whatever app that weather station uses?

$19 with 1GB is the cheapest plan you can get.  It should be sufficient for most devices like that.  If not, the next best one is $23 for 6GB

[Dunkman]

@Andrew-Drouin 

Where is the location of this project?  If in remote area, might want to check the cell phone tower map to see if a Telus cell tower is near your location.  

https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/

Just want to first make sure that you have at least some signal in your area of your project.  

[Andrew-Drouin]

Thank you.

[tonisage]

I see you need this for an IOT project and that's cool. Anyway, I think the base 19$/ 1gb plan will suffice for MMS (picture plus text) requirement.

I hope the GSm module is 4g too