Bellevue, Washington, Jan. 4, 2016: US carrier T-Mobile has unveiled two low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) Access packs with wireless data – and a Category 1 (Cat1) module to “help accelerate IoT innovation” and to eliminate the pain of piecing together wireless IoT solutions.
“Like everything they do, the carriers over-complicate the Internet of Things, and that leads to more hassle and cost for customers,” said Doug Chartier, Senior Vice President, T-Mobile, in a press statement. “The wireless industry needs simpler options for IoT to take off, and that’s exactly what we’re delivering.”
In today’s market, if a device maker wants to create an IoT solution, they must buy a wireless module from one vendor, then negotiate to purchase an overpriced data plan from a carrier – all before bringing their solution to market. This, said T-Mobile, failed to encourage IoT development.
With T-Mobile’s IoT Access packs, new and existing customers can get everything they need – including modules and data – to develop the next great IoT solution. For applications that use a little data, customers can get up to 5MB of data per month for US $20 per year per device in the first year and just $6 per year per device afterwards. For unlimited data at 64kbps, it’s just $25 per year per device, and for a limited time, these customers get US $5 off the first year for each device. With both T-Mobile IoT Access packs, T-Mobile will cover the cost of a Sequans Cat1 module, via a bill credit from T-Mobile, up to US $16 per module.
In addition, T-Mobile also announced plans to continue to help customers deliver the next-generation of devices for machine-to-machine communications. T-Mobile said it would continue to work to deliver ‘Category M’ and ‘Narrowband IoT’ (NB-IoT), the next evolution of modules to help customers save money over time and take advantage of T-Mobile’s expanding LTE coverage, based on market and customer needs. Combined with the Cat1 modules available on T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network, these modules will provide another technology option to give customers choice in improved data speeds and a longer product lifecycle compared to 2G network technologies.