IoT connectivity in Singapore

[Kai Hendry]

Hi guys,

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/technology/singapore-becomes-iot-ready-as-networks-are-rolled-out

Anyone fiddling around with Sigfox type stuff? I was keen to try it
again, but after contacting UnaBiz, the entry level device was 150SGD
and the upkeep was 1SGD a month.

Is this right? Seems a little too expensive for dabbling still. Though
trying to get prices out of these guys is like trying to get blood out
of a rock.

Kind regards,

[Roland Turner]

On 15/08/17 12:18, Kai Hendry wrote:

> Anyone fiddling around with Sigfox type stuff? I was keen to try it
> again, but after contacting UnaBiz, the entry level device was 150SGD
> and the upkeep was 1SGD a month.

SGD 1/month is probably about right for a one-off. Bear in mind that
they need to maintain space to provide volume discounts for hundreds or
thousands of devices. For contrast, SingTel M2M will do - IIRC - SGD
2.5/month for a minimum of 100 devices, and they'll charge you for
excess bandwidth if e.g. someone repurposes one of your SIMs, which is
not a risk with SIGFOX.

SGD 150 for a complete device seems a little high though. What's the
device? Last time I spoke to Lup Yuen (at least half a year ago) he was
in the process of switching from Radiocrafts modules that were (in bulk)
~USD 50 each to a Chinese device at < USD 10 each. Do bear in mind (a)
the difference between bulk and unit costs and (b) that costs of board
assembly will enormously exceed this, but I would have thought to the
tune of SGD 50, not 150.

> Is this right? Seems a little too expensive for dabbling still. Though
> trying to get prices out of these guys is like trying to get blood out
> of a rock.

Who are you speaking to?

- Roland

[Roland Turner]

Kai,

How much data do you wish to move?

https://hologram.io/pricing/
https://hologram.io/dash/

(I haven't evaluated the device or the service, just saw their "free for
developers offer".)

- Roland

[Kai Hendry]

On Tue, 15 Aug 2017, at 01:47 PM, 'Roland Turner' via HackerspaceSG
wrote:

> Who are you speaking to?

Was just chatting to http://www.unabiz.com/ but they are slow responding
to further queries over email ..

Haven't figured out Singtel et al which I think from the article is part
of it.

Guess these IoT offerings are seen as "business" M2M solutions and hence
the opaque old school pricing.



My use cases are simple. Like tracking my bike. No need for a lot of
data. Just for fun things.

Thanks!

[Fazli Mansor]

Have you checked out Particle's regional 3G iot plans? Free to try to start out for 3 months.

BASIC DATA CHARGES*:

• Particle's 1MB monthly data plan: 
  
  - free 3 months included with kit
  
  - $2.99/month for 1MB (thousands of messages) 
  
  - No contracts, cancel anytime
• $0.99/each additional MB

https://store.particle.io/products/electron-3g-kit-intl

/fazli

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[Roland Turner]

On 17/08/17 09:54, Kai Hendry wrote:

Was just chatting to http://www.unabiz.com/ but they are slow responding

to further queries over email .. 

You should definitely find and speak to a real person, but do see my comments below first.

Guess these IoT offerings are seen as "business" M2M solutions and hence
the opaque old school pricing.

More specialist than business per se but, sure, they don't sell large numbers of identical subscriptions and they therefore don't have fixed (binding) prices to advertise.

My use cases are simple. Like tracking my bike. No need for a lot of
data. Just for fun things.

The more important question is how much money you're likely to be paying in total. Certainly if you view a total relationship value of SGD 1/month[1] as a little high then no vendor can possibly afford to employ a salesperson to talk to you about it, so you'll only be able to buy on a self-service basis from a vendor who has chosen to pursue a mass market on a low fixed-price basis. Until/unless someone has, you won't be able to proceed.

- Roland

1: not being judgemental; I decided that SingTel's $2-$4/month/device was more than I was willing to pay for Yahi at the time and so proceeded with WiFi

[Karn Chandra]

Hi Kai,

"My use cases are simple. Like tracking my bike. No need for a lot of data. Just for fun things."

Out of curiosity, how do you plan to power your IoT device on the move? Battery powered or something more sofisticated? 

Cheers,

Karn

[Kai Hendry]

On Thu, 17 Aug 2017, at 03:27 PM, Karn Chandra wrote:
> Out of curiosity, how do you plan to power your IoT device on the move?
> Battery powered or something more sofisticated?

Just battery since I don't want to keep my stuff in the sun. =)