When a Soracom IoT SIM is registered and remains unused in the Ready status for more than one year, or when its status is changed to Standby or Suspended and remains in either status for more than one year, an annual renewal fee is charged.

To help determine when renewal fees will be charged, we have added a renewalFeeStatusSetTime property to the response of the following APIs:

• Sim:listSims
• Sim:getSim
• Subscriber:listSubscribers
• Subscriber:getSubscriber
• Query:searchSims
• Query:searchSubscribers

The renewalFeeStatusSetTime property is a timestamp (in Unix milliseconds) that indicates the date and time when the SIM was set to its ready, standby, or suspended status. Using this timestamp, you can calculate the amount of time remaining until a corresponding renewal fee will be charged.

Note that renewal fees apply only to the following subscription plans:

• plan01s
• plan01s - Low Data Volume
• plan-NA1
• plan-KM1
• planP1
• planX3

For more information on renewal fees, please refer to the Soracom Air: SIM Types and Pricing & Fee Schedule documentation.

Starting October 2022, the availability and application process of the SORACOM Support Office Hours support program, announced previously as a Limited Preview service, will change according to the following:

• Office Hours will be available to customers who currently have a paid support plan (Priority Support or Enterprise Support).
• To schedule an Office Hours appointment, please open a support ticket regarding your inquiry and indicate that you would like to receive a web meeting response using the Office Hours program.
  • Please also indicate a preferred appointment date and time that is at least 5 business days from the date of your request.

Please refer to the documentation (Japanese) for additional details such as requirements and precautions. If you have any questions regarding the Office Hours support program, please don't hesitate to contact us.

As previously announced, the number of past billing information and order history has now been limited to the most recent 18 months. Bills and orders older than 18 months are no longer available for download.

This change also applies to billing information and order history that is accessed using the following APIs:

• Billing:getBilling
• Billing:getBillingPerDay
• Billing:exportBilling
• Billing:getBillingHistory
• Order:listOrders
• Order:getOrder

If you require a copy of billing information or order history that is no longer available, please contact our support team by logging into the User Console and selecting Support > Contact Us.

For more information on downloading and using billing information or viewing and managing orders, please refer to the Billing Information and Order Management documentation.

We are pleased to announce that the Soracom Cloud Camera Services API, previously available as a Limited Preview, is now available for all users. This API allows users to download recordings as well as snapshot images generated from the recordings.

In order to use the API, a supported camera with a Sora Cam Cloud Recording License is required, however there are no additional charges for using the API.

For more information, please visit the Soracom Cloud Camera Services API product page (Japanese).

The Event Handler feature provides several traffic rules that allow you to automatically perform various actions when data usage exceeds a specified threshold. These traffic rules can be customized to fit a variety of conditions, such as checking the data usage of a single SIM on a daily basis, or checking the total data usage across all SIMs on a monthly basis.

When using a traffic rule with a group, Event Handler previously only supported checking the data usage of each SIM in the group separately. In other words, an Event Handler's actions would be run whenever any individual SIM within the group exceeded the specified threshold.

With this update, you can now also configure an Event Handler rule to check the total daily or monthly data usage across all SIMs that belong to a specific group. Rather than checking each SIM's data usage separately, these new rules will check the total data usage of all SIMs belonging to the group.

To configure an Event Handler that checks the total data usage of all SIMs belonging to a group:

1. Choose the Group target and select the group the Event Handler rule will apply to
2. Select either the Daily total traffic or Monthly total traffic rule, based on whether you want to check the daily or monthly group data usage

Note that if a SIM is removed from a group in the middle of the Event Handler's daily or monthly period, any data usage that occurred prior to removal will still be counted towards that group's total traffic. Similarly, if a SIM is added to a group in the middle of the period, any previous data usage before the change will not be counted.

For more information, please refer to the Event Handler: Rules documentation.

As announced by Google, the Google Cloud IoT Core service is scheduled to be retired on August 16, 2023.

Accordingly, Soracom Beam support for Google Cloud IoT Core will end on August 16, 2023. This change will apply to the Soracom Beam MQTT entry point.

The Soracom Support team is pleased to announce SORACOM Support Office Hours (hereafter "Office Hours"), a new support program that allows customers to make an appointment to consult directly with our support staff via web meeting.

Office Hours is an opportunity for customers to more quickly resolve concerns in their IoT projects, learn how to utilize the features of the Soracom platform, and other issues that are difficult to explain via support tickets, by speaking directly with our support staff.

While Office Hours are intended for customers with a paid support plan (Priority Support and Enterprise Support), during the month of Septembre 2022, customers without a paid support plan are also eligible to request Office Hours appointments.

If you would like to request an appointment, please read the following information and submit a support ticket to apply.

Examples of consultations

• You have a question or issue related to the use of the Soracom Platform in your IoT project.
• You would like to learn more about Soracom Platform services, features, and how to make the most of Soracom support services.
• You have an issue that requires direct consultation with Soracom support staff, such as sharing information on screen or confirming operations.

In principle, support services provided in Office Hours will follow the Scope of Support Services (Japanese).

Dates and times

Office Hours for the month of September 2022 are as follows:

• September 12-16 (Monday-Friday), between 10:00 and 18:00 JST

Customers may apply for a 30-45 minute appointment during this time.

Application Deadline

Friday, September 9 (Friday) by 15:00 JST

Cost

Free of charge

How to apply

To apply, please submit a new support ticket by copying the following information and filling in your Office Hours request details:

Subject: SORACOM Support Office Hours Request
Inquiry Category: Other Inquiry
Description (of inquiry): 

- Preferred Date and Time (1st choice): 
- Preferred Date and Time (2nd choice): 
- Preferred Web Meeting Tool: 
  - If you do not specify, we will send you the URL of Google Meet. If you would like to use other tools, please feel free to contact us.
- Details to be discussed: 
- Other requests: 

Conditions

• Before applying, please make sure to confirm that the nature of your request adheres to the Scope of Support Services (Japanese).
• Office Hours will be provided as a Limited Preview. Accordingly:
  • We may limit your participation or adjust the date and time based on the details of your request.
  • We reserve the right to stop accepting applications prior to the application deadline without prior notice.
• Only one application per customer (SORACOM account) is allowed.
• If we are unable to answer your questions during your appointment, we may follow up with a support ticket afterwards.
• We kindly request your participation in filling out a survey, to be sent to you at a later date.

Office Hours schedule for the month of October 2022 (and later) will be announced at a later date.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new rendezvous point located in Sydney, Australia.

When a device using a Soracom Air for Cellular SIM connects to a cellular network, IP network connectivity is provided by one of Soracom's infrastructure regions, known as rendezvous points. With the addition of the Sydney rendezvous point, devices located in Australia will be able to connect to the internet and access IP services with lower latency.

Devices will automatically begin using the Sydney rendezvous point under the following conditions:

• The device is using a plan01s, plan01s - Low Data Volume, or planP1 subscription
• The device is located in Australia

For devices located outside of Australia, IP network connectivity will continue to be provided by other rendezvous points. For more information, please refer to the Rendezvous Points documentation.

Sydney rendezvous point with VPG

Virtual Private Gateways can now also be created using the Sydney rendezvous point, allowing for connecting to private networks and utilizing other advanced VPG functions from within Australia.

Please note that only devices physically located in Australia will be able to connect to a VPG that has been configured with the Sydney rendezvous point. Devices located outside of Australia will need their SIMs to be attached to a VPG with a different rendezvous point, or detached from the VPG, in order to access IP services.

Business customers located in Japan can now apply to switch their payment method to direct debit (also known as kouza-furikae). With the direct debit payment method, charges for monthly services will automatically be debited from your Japanese bank account.

You can apply to switch your payment method to direct debit from the User Console.

Upon submitting your application, an authorization request will be sent to you in the mail from Soracom's bank transaction provider, NetProtections. After you have completed the authorization form, your account payment method will be switched to direct debit. This process normally takes 2 months to complete.

Please note that direct debit is not available for individual customers.

For more details, please refer to the Change to direct debit (Japanese) documentation.

Pricing Calculator, a tool for calculating estimated costs of Soracom IoT SIMs, devices, and services for Japan coverage, has been updated to support cost calculations for plan-K2.

For details on using the Pricing Calculator, please refer to the Create Estimate (Japanese) documentation.