Giff Gaff sim for alarm system?

[Condi]

Do the sim cards with giff gaff expire?

I'm setting up an alarm system which has an ethernet connection and sim card as a backup, which means for 99% of the time it will sit there doing nothing, albeit the Sim will be active and connected to the network. The included SIM is £3.50/m which isn't a lot, but will mount up over time, whereas if I can buy a £10 PAYG sim that will probably last for a year or 2 and be cheaper than £3.50/m. Obviously it is less useful if the account expires after 3 months and the credit vanishes!

Either that, or is there a better option? Most PAYG sims seem to only hold the credit for a short period of time, and then you need to top up again.

[Dave.]

I use a Giffgaff SIM in my tracker, I put £20 credit on over 5 years ago and it's still going strong.

I does however sent out a "I'm here" signal every 12hrs even when idle.

You could send a text to that number once a week/month which should keep it active on the network, maybe?

[Captain_Morgan]

Most of the modules you refer to have the option to send a monthly keep alive text, which keeps the sim active & lets you know the backup connection is working

[Condi]

Dave. said:

I use a Giffgaff SIM in my tracker, I put £20 credit on over 5 years ago and it's still going strong.

I does however sent out a "I'm here" signal every 12hrs even when idle.

That sounds ideal, is it the tracker which sends out a "I'm here" signal do you know? The alarm would be connected to the internet via ethernet so I wonder if it can be programmed to send something once in a while via the SIM card. I guess the SIM must check-in with the network now and again anyway, so the network knows it is still there.

[Dave.]

Condi said:

Dave. said:

I use a Giffgaff SIM in my tracker, I put £20 credit on over 5 years ago and it's still going strong.

I does however sent out a "I'm here" signal every 12hrs even when idle.

That sounds ideal, is it the tracker which sends out a "I'm here" signal do you know? The alarm would be connected to the internet via ethernet so I wonder if it can be programmed to send something once in a while via the SIM card. I guess the SIM must check-in with the network now and again anyway, so the network knows it is still there.

Sorry, yeah, the tracker pings it's servers after and every 12hrs.

As Capt Morgan said, maybe it has that feature built in anyway.

[theaxe]

I use a ‘Things Mobile’ SIM in my alarm, it was about £20 and it lasted 3 years before needing a top up.

[Condi]

theaxe said:

I use a ‘Things Mobile’ SIM in my alarm, it was about £20 and it lasted 3 years before needing a top up.

Had a look at that and it seems to be quite expensive per MB, and also reviews are very mixed. It's an Italian company, with the sim working around the world on whatever network, so you pay for the convenience. I don't need anything outside the UK, it's a bit overkill.

Have ordered a giffgaff sim and will run that alongside the supplied sim for a period of time.

[w1bbles]

I run a Giffgaff SIM on our alarm system and I just make a phone call with it every six months or so to keep it live. I've also got two in vehicle trackers and they seem to last about 3 or more years before they run out of their £10 credit. I do get them to send a text every now and then though just to be sure that they are still live.

[Condi]

Just to round this thread off, I put the GiffGaff sim into the alarm today and all is well. GiffGaff credit never expires, and it appears the alarm uses about 100kb/day, which cost 1p. Much cheaper than the £2.99+VAT/m the other company wanted to charge. Also, because it uses some data there is no need to worry about having to send a text once every 6 months to ensure it remains active.