We are pleased to announce that we have improved the OTA (over-the-air) update behavior for delivering Subscription Containers to compatible Soracom IoT SIMs.

Subscription Containers are a feature available on certain Soracom IoT SIMs which allows you to add extra subscription plans to the same SIM for additional coverage and redundancy. When adding a subscription container to a SIM, the additional subscription plan is delivered using an OTA update.

In some cases such as a weak signal or loss of connection, the OTA update process may be interrupted. Until now, restarting the OTA update has required waiting for at least 25 hours, moving the device to a new location to resolve connection issues, and manually deleting a device's cellular session or rebooting the device to re-trigger the OTA update, with a maximum of 3 retries before giving up.

With this update, we have improved the retry mechanism so that OTA updates are automatically restarted as quickly as 5 minutes once Soracom detects that connection issues have been resolved. The maximum number of retries has also been extended to 12 retries. Together, these improvements will help to reduce both the number of errors in delivering Subscription Containers to SIMs and the time needed to complete an OTA update.

Effective Date

This update will be automatically applied for all customers on August 14, 2024.

Please note the improved delivery mechanism will only apply to Subscription Containers that are added on or after this date. Subscription Containers that are added prior to this date will still be delivered using the previous OTA update mechanism.

We are pleased to announce the following coverage updates for Soracom Air for Cellular connectivity.

plan01s and plan01s-LDV

Coverage updates

Country	Networks	Before	→	After	Remarks
Afghanistan	AWCC	-	→	2G, 3G	Network open
Albania	Telekom	-	→	2G, 3G	Network open
Anguilla	Digicell	2G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	Corrected typo (*1)
Antigua & Barbuda	Digicell	2G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	Corrected typo (*1)
Australia	Vodafone	3G, 4G LTE	→	4G LTE	3G sunset
British Virgin Islands	Flow	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	2G sunset (*1)
Cameroon	MTN CAM	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	4G LTE open
Cape Verde	Unitel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	Network open (*1)
Cayman Islands	Digicell	2G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	Corrected typo (*1)
Colombia	Movistar	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	Network open
Congo (Democratic Republic)	Vodacom	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	4G LTE open (*1)
Dominica	Flow	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	2G sunset (*1)
Finland	DNA	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Finland	Elisa	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Grenada	Flow	2G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	Corrected typo (*1)
Hungary	Vodafone	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Iceland	Siminn	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	4G LTE open (*1)
Japan	KDDI	-	→	4G LTE	Network open
Japan	Softbank	4G LTE	→	4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1	LTE Cat.M1 open
Luxembourg	Orange	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Luxembourg	Tango	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Montenegro	Telekom.me	2G, 3G	→	2G	3G sunset
Nigeria	MTN	-	→	2G, 3G	Network open (*1)
North Macedonia	T-Mobile	-	→	2G	Network open
Panama	Movil	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	4G LTE open
Peru	Movistar	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	Network open
Puerto Rico	Claro	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	2G sunset
Saudi Arabia	Mobily	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	4G LTE open
Serbia	MTS	-	→	2G	Network open
Slovakia	Orange	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
South Korea	KT	-	→	3G, 4G LTE	Network open
St. Lucia	Flow	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	2G sunset (*1)
Sweden	Telia	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Tunisia	Orange	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	Network open (*1)
Turkey	Turkcell	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	Network open
Turks & Caicos Islands	Flow	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE	2G sunset (*1)
Ukraine	Vodafone	-	→	2G, 3G	Network open
United Kingdom	O2	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1	LTE Cat.M1 open
United Kingdom	Vodafone	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Zambia	Airtel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	Network open

(*1) plan01s only

planX3 and planX3-EU

Country	Networks	Before	→	After	Remarks
Bermuda	Digicel	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	-	Network shutdown
Bonaire	Digicel	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	-	Network shutdown
Croatia	Telemach	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 3G	4G LTE closure
Curacao	Digicel	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	-	Network shutdown
Czech Republic	O2	-	→	2G, 4G LTE	Network open
Finland	DNA	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Jamaica	Digicel	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	-	Network shutdown
Luxembourg	Orange	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Netherlands	KPN	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Netherlands	Vodafone	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Norway	Telia	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Philippines	Globe	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset (*2)
Russia	VimpelCom	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	Network open (*2)
Seychelles	C&W	-	→	2G	Network open (*2)
Slovakia	Orange	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Sweden	Telia	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset
Taiwan	Taiwan Mobile	-	→	3G	Network open (*2)
Tanzania	Vodacom	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	Network open (*2)
United Kingdom	Vodafone	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE	3G sunset

(*2) planX3 only

We are excited to announce a new firmware update (v3134) for the Soracom LTE-M Button, packed with enhancements and new features to improve functionality and user experience.

Features and improvements

New Alert mode

This firmware introduces a new Alert mode. Like the standard click function, this mode will send an uplink message when the button is clicked. However, this mode prioritizes sending the uplink message without any extra delays, and will disable the ability to accidentally cancel uplink messages to ensure that clicks are delivered, making it useful for emergency situations.

Alert mode also features a new configurable Network Standby setting which will keep the network connection open for a short period after every uplink, so that subsequent clicks can be sent immediately without the need to reconnect. Alert mode can also be combined with the existing Heartbeat behavior so that you can identify if a button has lost coverage or needs new batteries.

Battery voltage in all messages

Battery voltage, previously reported only in Status and Heartbeat uplink messages, is now included in all uplink messages. Now, no matter if you are using the standard Event (click) modes, the Timer mode, or the new Alert mode, you can monitor your button's battery voltage without the need to separately trigger a Status message or enable Heartbeat.

Automatic Status message

This firmware now features a setting to automatically send a Status message every 24 hours. When enabled, this setting allows for remotely modifying a button's operating mode or settings, without requiring any user interaction. The Status message can also be used to trigger a firmware update if available, allowing the button to stay updated similarly without any user interaction.

Better LED patterns

The LED will now show 1 short blink, 2 short blinks, or 1 long blink corresponding to the type of click detected, allowing a user to visually confirm their intended click. In addition, the LED will now blink slowly when connecting to a network, and quickly once connected and sending the uplink message. Finally, when the button is configured for the new Alert mode, the LED will blink orange after each click, making it easy to differentiate from other modes.

Bug fixes

(Breaking change) Fixed incorrect Rising and Falling edge events

The Rising and Falling edge events in firmware v2220 were mistakenly implemented in reverse, resulting in the button data indicating "Rising edge" instead of "Falling edge" when a circuit using the 2-wire accessory is closed, and vice-versa. As this may have an impact on some circuit designs, these values have been swapped in the new firmware in order to match the original intended behavior:

• v2220 behavior:
  • When a circuit is closed, the button data indicates a “Rising edge” event
  • When a circuit is opened, the button data indicates “Falling edge” event
• v3134 behavior:
  • When a circuit is closed, the button data indicates “Falling edge” event
  • When a circuit is opened, the button data indicates “Rising edge” event

In order to avoid breaking existing applications, the v2220 behavior has not been altered. However, if your application relies on separating Rising and Falling edge events, please note that you will need to switch your application logic when updating to v3134.

Note: Due to hardware limitations, the button may still occasionally incorrectly detect the type of edge event (Rising or Falling). While enabling edge debounce can reduce this issue, incorrect detections may still occur due to an inconsistent or noisy signal from a loose wire, faulty switch, or other circuit components.

Removed unexpected TCP uplink message

In v2220, the button periodically sends a TCP uplink message to Soracom Beam. This message was used for testing and does not contain any user data, however as the button sends actual button data via UDP and a Soracom Beam TCP configuration is not required, a “configuration not found” error would occur. This TCP uplink message has been removed from the new firmware.

How to update

To update your button firmware, please contact the Soracom Support team with the ICCID(s) of your button(s) in order to receive firmware update instructions and for additional assistance. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you are unsure of whether your button has the latest firmware, or if you have any other questions or concerns.

We are pleased to announce the following coverage updates for Soracom Air for Cellular connectivity.

planX3 and planX3-EU

Coverage updates

Country	Networks	Before	→	After
Bermuda	Digicel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE (*3)
Cambodia	Cellcard	-	→	2G (*3)
Denmark	TDC	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Estonia	Elisa	-	→	2G, 4G LTE
Ghana	MTN	-	→	2G, 3G (*3)
Hungary	Vodafone	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Italy	Iliad	-	→	3G, 4G LTE
Italy	Wind	-	→	3G, 4G LTE
Mexico	Telefonica	-	→	2G (*3)
Morocco	IAM	-	→	2G (*3)
Mozambic	Vodacom	-	→	2G (*3)
Nigeria	MTN	-	→	2G, 3G (*3)
Oman	Omantel	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE (*3)
Senegal	Free	2G, 3G	→	Network shutdown (*3)
Serbia	A1	2G	→	2G, 4G LTE
Serbia	Telekom	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Slovenia	A1	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Switzerland	Sunrise	2G, 3G	→	3G, 4G LTE (*1)
Taiwan	T Star	2G	→	2G, 4G LTE (*3)
Uruguay	Antel	-	→	2G, 3G (*3)
United Kingdom	H3G	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE

(*1) 2G network sunset/shutdown

(*2) 3G network sunset/shutdown

(*3) planX3 only

We are pleased to announce the following LPWAN coverage updates for Soracom Air for Cellular connectivity.

planX3 and planX3-EU

Country	Networks	Before	Change	After
Denmark	Telenor	2G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1 (Beta)	LTE Cat.M1 upgraded from Beta	2G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1
Finland	DNA	2G, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1 (Beta), NB-IoT (Beta)	LTE Cat.M1 upgraded from Beta	2G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1, NB-IoT (Beta) (*2)
Romania	Orange	2G, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1 (Beta)	LTE Cat.M1 upgraded from Beta	2G, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1
Slovakia	Orange	2G, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1 (Beta)	LTE Cat.M1 upgraded from Beta	2G, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1, NB-IoT
Sweden	Telenor	2G, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1 (Beta)	LTE Cat.M1 upgraded from Beta	2G, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat.M1

(*2) 3G network sunset/shutdown

planP1

Coverage updates

Country	Networks	Before	→	After
Czech Republic	Vodafone	-	→	2G, 4G LTE
Estonia	Elisa	-	→	2G, 4G LTE
Netherlands	Vodafone	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Netherlands	KPN	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Norway	Telia	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Mexico	AT&T	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Singapore	Starhub	-	→	3G, 4G LTE
Slovenia	A1	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)

(*2) 3G network sunset/shutdown

We are pleased to announce the following coverage updates for Soracom Air for Cellular connectivity.

plan01s and plan01s - Low Data Volume

Coverage updates

Country	Networks	Before	→	After
Armenia	Vivacell	-	→	2G, 3G
Brunei	UNN	-	→	2G, 3G
Burkina Faso	Orange	-	→	2G, 3G
Canada	SaskTel	3G	→	3G, 4G LTE
Canada	Videotron	-	→	3G, 4G LTE
Chile	Movistar	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Colombia	Comcel (Claro)	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Congo	Airtel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Costa Rica	Movistar	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE (*1)
Denmark	TDC	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Denmark	Telia	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
El Salvador	Digicel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Estonia	Telia	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Greece	Wind	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Greenland	Tele	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Grenada	Flow	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Guadeloupe	Digicel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Haiti	Natcom	2G, 3G	→	2G (*2)
Honduras	Claro	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Hungary	Telekom.hu	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Indonesia	Telkomsel	2G	→	2G, 4G LTE
Israel	Pelephone	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE (*1)
Kazakhstan	K-Cell	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Lithuania	Telia	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Luxembourg	Post	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
Macau	CTM	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE (*1)
Martinique	Digicel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Monaco	Monaco Telecom	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE (*1)
Nepal	NTC	-	→	2G, 3G
Panama	Claro	2G, 3G	→	Network shutdown
Panama	Movil	-	→	2G, 3G
Puerto Rico	AT&T	3G, 4G LTE	→	Network shutdown
Reunion	Orange	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Romania	Digi Mobile	3G, 4G LTE	→	4G LTE (*2)
Saudi Arabia	STC	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Saudi Arabia	Zain	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	Network shutdown
Slovenia	A1	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	2G, 4G LTE (*2)
South Africa	MTN	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
St. Barthelemy	Digicel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
St. Martin	Digicel	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
St. Vincent & Grenadines	Flow	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE (*1)
Switzerland	Sunrise	2G, 3G, 4G LTE	→	3G, 4G LTE (*1)
Uganda	Airtel	2G, 3G	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Uganda	MTN	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Uruguay	Antel	-	→	2G, 4G LTE
US Virgin Islands	AT&T	3G, 4G LTE	→	Network shutdown
Uzbekistan	Ucell	-	→	2G, 3G, 4G LTE
Vietnam	Gmobile	2G, 3G	→	Network shutdown

(*1) 2G network sunset/shutdown

(*2) 3G network sunset/shutdown

We are pleased to announce that 5G-NSA (5G non standalone) coverage for plan01s is now available in the following countries.

• Azerbaijan - Bakcell
• Canada - SaskTel
• Cyprus - Epic
• Denmark - TDC
• Greece - Cosmote & Wind
• Hong Kong - CSL
• Luxembourg - Post
• Singapore - SingTel
• South Korea - SK Telecom
• United Kingdom - O2

For complete details about data rates, supported carriers and radio types, and coverage in other countries, please refer to the Supported Carriers documentation.

We have added new features to the Pricing Calculator and SORACOM IoT Store (Japan) to improve the process of estimating and purchasing IoT SIMs and IoT devices.

New Features in the Pricing Calculator

• The contents of an estimate (such as item quantities) are now stored in the URL, allowing you to save a bookmark and reload an estimate, or share the estimate using the URL.
• After creating an estimate, you can now click the Order Items button to add items from the estimate to the SORACOM IoT Store cart, allowing you to conveniently purchase products from an estimate.

New Features in the SORACOM IoT Store

• When adding products to the cart in the SORACOM IoT Store, you can now click the 見積書を作成する button to load the selected products in the Pricing Calculator, allowing you to make an estimate for services before before making a purchase.

For more information on how to use the Pricing Calculator or how to purchase items from the SORACOM IoT Store, please refer to the following pages:

• Create an Estimate (Japanese)
• How to Order (Japanese)

We have improved the functionality of the IP Address Mapping feature in Virtual Private Gateways (VPG), making it easier to manage large numbers of entries efficiently.

Changes to the User Console

We have added a filter to the IP Address Map panel of the VPG configuration > Device LAN settings screen. You can now easily search for entries by IMSI or IP address.

Changes to the Soracom API

The VirtualPrivateGateway:listVirtualPrivateGatewayIpAddressMapEntries API now supports pagination with the following additional request parameters and response headers:

New Request Parameters

Name	Type	Description
last_evaluated_key	string	The last IP address returned from the previous request, equivalent to the value of the x-soracom-next-key response header. By specifying this parameter, the API will return the next page of IP Address Map entries.
limit	integer	The maximum number of IP Address Map entries to return.

New Response Headers

Name	Type	Description
x-soracom-next-key	string	The last IP address returned from the current request.

Soracom Endorse is an authentication service that issues secure tokens which can be used to verify that devices are genuinely connected to Soracom using an IoT SIM. Your server or application can then indepenently verify these tokens to determine if a device is allowed to access network resources.

With this update, you can now include SIM IDs in Soracom Endorse authentication tokens. This can greatly simplify the process of verifying tokens, especially for devices leveraging Subscription Containers or Soracom Arc, by allowing verification of a device using its corresponding SIM's SIM ID, rather than multiple different IMSIs.

For more details, please refer to the Configuring Soracom Endorse documentation.

We are pleased to announce that 5G-NSA (5G non standalone) coverage for plan01s is now available in the following countries.

Coverage update

plan01s and plan01s - Low Data Volume

Albania, Australia, Austria

Bahrein, Belgium, Bulgaria

Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland, France

Germany, Greece

Hong Kong, Hungary

Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy

Latvia, Lithuania

Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey

United Kingdom, United States

For complete details about data rates, supported carriers and radio types, and coverage in other countries, please refer to the Supported Carriers documentation.

---

As well we are happy to share that new LPWAN networks (beta) for plan01s are now available.

plan01s, plan01s - Low Data Volume

Coverage updates

Country	Networks	Before	→	After
Chile	Entel	-	→	NB-IoT (Beta)
Costa Rica	Movistar	-	→	LTE Cat-M1 (Beta)
Czech Republic	T-Mobile	-	→	LTE Cat-M1 (Beta)
Denmark	3	-	→	LTE Cat-M1 (Beta)
Greece	Vodafone	-	→	LTE Cat-M1 (Beta)
Honduras	Claro	-	→	LTE Cat-M1 (Beta)

For complete details about data rates, supported carriers and radio types, and coverage in other countries, please refer to the Supported Carriers documentation.

We are pleased to announce that the Soracom Orbit SDK is now available on GitHub. Customers can now integrate the SDKs published on GitHub into their CI environments and execute builds.

The links to the GitHub repositories are as follows:

• Soracom Orbit SDK for AssemblyScript
• Soracom Orbit SDK for Rust
• Soracom Orbit SDK for C/C++

Updated WASM Module Development Environment (Visual Studio Code Development Environment)

In conjunction with the release of the Soracom Orbit SDK on GitHub, the WASM Module Development Environment has also been updated.

• The Soracom Orbit SDK for AssemblyScript and Soracom Orbit SDK for Rust, previously included in the WASM Module Development Environment, are no longer included as of December 2023.

  However, the setup procedure for the WASM Module Development Environment remains unchanged despite the removal of these SDKs.

• For reference documentation on the Soracom Orbit SDK, please continue to refer to the SDK Reference.