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Improvements
today

SIM ID details added to Billing CSV

When reviewing your monthly service charges, you can download detailed billing CSV files from the User Console. These files contain the full breakdown of all usage, service, and option charges, organized according to the SIM associated with the charge.

With this update, we have added a SIM ID column (simId) in the billing CSV data. Now, in addition to identifying SIMs based on their IMSI number, you can also identify them based on their SIM ID. This can be especially helpful if your SIMs are utilizing the Subscription Container service and each SIM contains multiple IMSIs.

For more information about the billing CSV, please refer to Billing Information: Detailed Billing CSV.

Improvements
a month ago

Updated SIM Management UI released

We are excited to announce the release of an updated SIM Management interface in the Soracom User Console, which brings the following significant improvements:

  • Better performance - Loading and displaying a list of SIMs is now much faster, in some cases as much as 20x faster. Pagination speed has also been significantly improved.
  • Modernized design - The SIM Management page is one of the oldest parts of the User Console and has been given a facelift using the Soracom Design System, providing a more streamlined and intuitive user experience.
  • Improved searching - Search parameters are now reflected in the URL, which allows you to bookmark specific searches or share them with your team, as well as to navigate to another part of the User Console and return back to the search results.

This update also lays the foundation for delivering further improvements. We are excited to announce additional updates in the coming months.

Please note that with this release, the right-click menu has been removed. You can still access all SIM management actions by clicking the checkbox for one or more SIMs, and then clicking the Actions menu.

FeatureImprovements
2 months ago

New SIM Initial Settings option

When purchasing SIMs directly from the User Console, Soracom pre-registers each SIM in the order to your account. Once you receive your order, the SIM registration process will be completed automatically, saving you time from having to register each SIM one by one.

However, SIM settings such as Group and Speed Class can only be configured after each SIM has been registered and added to your account. While it is possible to select multiple SIMs and configure such settings, doing so for a large number of SIMs has been tedious and has still required waiting until after the SIMs have been registered.

Now, users can now select what initial settings to apply to each SIM in an order prior to registering the SIMs.

After placing an order from either the User Console or Soracom IoT Store, you can specify the following initial settings for each of the subscription plans included in your order:

  • Group
  • Speed Class
  • Tags

These initial settings can be configured right away, even before your order has shipped. Once you receive your order and click "Register," the initial settings that you specified for the order will be automatically applied to each SIM as they are registered.

Please note:

  • Certain options or services are configured in a Group and are automatically applied to all SIMs that have been added to that group. When specifying a Group initial setting, this may result in a corresponding increase in option or service fees as soon as the SIMs have been registered and initial settings applied.
  • When placing an order from the Soracom IoT Store, you must log into the User Console after completing your order to be able to configure the initial settings for that order.

For additional details, please refer to Soracom Air for Cellular: Registration documentation.

FeatureImprovements
2 months ago

Additional coverage for plan01s now available

We are pleased to announce that plan01s and plan01s Low Data Volume coverage now includes Reunion.

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

FeatureImprovements
2 months ago

Renewal Fee Tracking Date details now available from User Console

We recently announced a new renewalFeeStatusSetTime SIM property which indicates the date and time when a Soracom IoT SIM was registered in the Ready status, or when the status was set to Standby or Suspended. When a SIM remains in one of these statuses for more than one year, an annual renewal fee is charged. The renewalFeeStatusSetTime property allows you to calculate the amount of time remaining until a corresponding renewal fee will be charged.

While the renewalFeeStatusSetTime property is now returned as part of a Soracom API response from the related APIs, this update allows you to check the same information directly from the User Console.

To find the date when the SIM was set to its ready, standby, or suspended status:

  1. Open the SIM Management screen, select a SIM, and click Details.
  2. The date will be displayed in the Renewal Fee Tracking Date detail.

As previously mentioned, please note that renewal fees apply only to the following subscription plans:

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

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

FeatureImprovements
2 months ago

VPG connection details now available in session history

Virtual Private Gateway (VPG) is a customer-created dedicated gateway that provides Soracom Air for Cellular and Soracom Arc devices with a private network environment on the Soracom platform. When an IoT SIM is connected to a VPG, its data communication is handled by the dedicated gateway rather than by Soracom's default shared gateway, which in turn allows you to:

  • Configure the VPG to allow or block access to certain destinations.
  • Connect the VPG to your own private network, which in turn allows your devices to access servers or other network resources in your private network without data going over the Internet.

Enabling connectivity with a VPG

When configuring an IoT SIM to connect to a VPG, the SIM must first be added to a group, and the group's Virtual Private Gateway setting must be enabled and configured to use the VPG. In addition, if the SIM is already connected to a cellular network, the ongoing session must be deleted and re-established in order for the data to be routed through the VPG.

If an ongoing session is not deleted, data from the SIM will continue to be routed through the previous gateway instead of through the VPG. However there has not been a way to check whether the ongoing session is routed through the VPG or not.

Checking VPG connectivity status

With this update, you can now check whether a SIM's data session is routed through a VPG according to its group settings, in order to determine if a session should be deleted to reconnect accordingly. If you have more than one VPG, you can also check which VPG the connection is routed through. VPG details are available from a SIM's Session History tab:

FeatureImprovements
3 months ago

New renewalFeeStatusSetTime SIM property

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.

Improvements
4 months ago

New Event Handler group traffic rules

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.

FeatureImprovementsAnnouncement
5 months ago

Soracom Air for Cellular Sydney rendezvous point now available

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.

ImprovementsAnnouncement
5 months ago

Direct debit payment method now available

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.