I have a Hologram SIM that connects ok to the Vodafone network in the UK on a Botletics SIM7000 board, but will only connect to the 2G network, not the 3G or 4G LTE networks. I’ve tried the SIM in a phone with the same results, and I’ve checked that there is a good Voafone 4G signal in my building.
Is the Hologram SIM only authorised to connect to the Vodafone 2G network in the UK? The Holgram website says it will work with 4G.
Thanks,
Julian.
the SIM7000 works with 2G and NB-IOT / Cat-M1. The latter two are techniccaly 4G / LTE technologies but they are “special”. When Hologram says LTE they mean LTE Cat-1, 2, 4, etc. They will list Cat-M1 and/or NB-IOT separately (See their coverage in USA).
Right now, Hologram does not Support NB-IOT on any network (due to the volume of questions of this nature on the forum I think they need to do a better job making this clear). It is on their roadmap but it is more up to the carriers to allow Roaming onto their NB-IOT networks which currently no implementation does. The UK has NB-IOT.
Hologram does support Cat-M1 in most areas and even in areas they dont explicitly list. For example Cat-M1 works with Telstra in Australia even though they dont officially list it. Unfortunately there is no Cat-M1 in the UK. See: GSMA | Mobile IoT Deployment Map | Internet of Things for an up-to-date deployment map NB-IOT/Cat-M1.
Right now your only option is 2G with your modem and Hologram. The only other option is to get a Vodafone simcard that supports NB-IOT or use a different cellular modem that supports “standard” LTE. Note these are considerably more expensive, like an extra $20-50.
Best of luck.
Hi Andrew, thanks very much for the detailed reply. I’m going to get a SODAQ SARA Board and a Vodafone NB-IoT SIM so perhaps I’ll have better luck with that!
Regards,
Julian
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