SIM Cards

Overview

The main objective of the platform is to manage the connectivity service and the inventory of SIMs.

Among other things, users can:

  • View inventory of SIM cards
  • Perform Bulk Actions
  • View usage, locations, call detail records and historical information
  • Troubleshoot issues
  • Assign attributes
  • Assign tags
  • Send/receive SMS

List

To view the SIM Cards list click on the SIM Cards section in the left menu and then click on the List option.

../_images/sim_card_list.png

SIM Card list view.

Each row has all of the important information associated with the SIM Cards, such as ICCID, MSISDN, Label, Rate Plan, SIM Card Service, Data Service, SMS MO/MT Service and session Status, Monthly Data and SMS usages, Device, Last Location, Tags, Attributes, etc.

Note

You can always hide some columns, if you think the table is too big. Some details are hidden by default (e.g. Date first registered, IMSI, etc.).

Note

Note that even if a column is hidden, it’s filter is still applied to the table.

To export the information you can click “Export” and choose the method to export the information, see SIM Cards Export for more information.

Map

To view a map containing the SIM cards from the list, click on “Map” button on the upper right corner.

../_images/sim_map_button_sims_list.png

SIM Cards Map Button

The map will show all the SIM cards stated as “Active” and “Suspended” currently being shown in the table. That means that the filters that you can apply on the list, are also applied to the map.

Note

The SIMs being shown are all the SIMs that match the table filters (not just the SIMs from the current table page).

Bulk Actions

The platform allows you to take actions (e.g. change SIM card states, etc.) to several SIM Cards at the same time. To do this, you need to check the desired SIM cards, in the SIM card list, and choose the action to perform in the Bulk Actions select box.

The following action are possible:

  • Change Status
  • Change Data Status
  • Change SMS MO Status
  • Change SMS MT Status
  • Change Rate Plan
  • Change Tags
  • Change Attribute
  • Send SMS

SIM Card Details

You can see all of the SIM Card details (e.g., ICCID, MSISDNs, Tags, etc.) in a single page, do actions on it (e.g., change SIM Card Service state), view the monthly traffic and request special configurations.

Details

This panel shows all the SIM Card information. You can edit some of it’s details (e.g label, description, attributes, etc. ), to do this, click on the Edit button.

../_images/sim_card_details_details.png

SIM Card, Additional and Billing Information and associated Tags panels.

../_images/sim_card_details_details_2.png

Attributes and Location Tag panels.

Status

In the Service Status section you can check the several SIM Card Services status and the Ongoing Sessions.

../_images/sim_card_details_status.png

Panel with SIM Card Service, Data Service, SMS MO Service, SMS MT Service, Current Device and Latest Location.

../_images/sim_card_details_ongoing_data_session.png

Panel with Ongoing Data Session panel shows information about the current Data session.

Usage

This section show information about the usage of this SIM Card as well as a historical Location map.

An overview of the monthly usage or the billing cycle usage can be viewed in the Usage section:

../_images/sim_card_details_usage.png

SIM Card usage.

At the end of the page, you will find a map showing the historical location of the current SIM card. You can adjust the period of time on which you want to see the detected locations of the SIM. The latest location pin will be represented with a different color from other pins.

../_images/sim_card_details_map.png

Historical SIM Card Location Map.

Location Tag Attribute

There is a special attribute called ‘Location Tag’. Its goal is to help the user to identify a location on a map, by attaching an address, a point of reference or whatever the user finds to be useful. Besides the label, a coordinate should be specified. This tag will be displayed on the Historical Location Map, together with the historical locations of a SIM. A practical use case for this feature would be, for instance, if an user wanted to know if at any time the SIM card was somewhere around a certain point on the map.

../_images/location_tag_map.png

Location Tag Attribute

On the image we can observe that part of SIM’s locations were relatively close to the created tag (in red), but there is one location really far from the tag.

Special Configurations

Users with the right permissions can request for special configurations: fixed IP addresses, private APN and VPN.

../_images/sim_card_details_special_config.png

SIM Card special configuration.

Swap SIM card

When a SIM card gets broken or is stolen, you can move the information such as CDRs, location updates and rules to another SIM card in the Provisioned or Pre-Active state.

Warning

This action is not reversible.

History

All history is recorded by the platform from the CDR, to SMS content, notifications, locations updates and rules triggered. The information is shown in dedicated pages.

All the information can be exported. See the SIM Cards Export for detail information.

Timeline

The platform also provides a timeline with all the content related to a SIM card, giving a more friendly view of the SIM card usage. The following image shows a timeline for a SIM card:

../_images/sim_card_timeline.png

SIM Card details timeline.

Life-cycle

Organizations can manage the life-cycle of their SIM Cards, since the day they are provisioned until they are retired. Truphone also has the ability to Block or Remove SIM cards from the organizations’ accounts.

The next figure shows the SIM cards life cycle and the transitions:

Warning

Please note that some states (e.g., Test state) may not be available in your account.

../_images/sim_card_status.png

SIM Card life-cycle.

Below is a description of each of the transitions:

User
Transition performed manually by a user of the the account.
Auto
Transition performed automatically by the back-end of the platform. The transition may have been configured by the User (e.g., rules) or by the Operator (e.g., invoices not paid).
Internal
Transition performed by Truphone.

Below is a description of each of the states:

Start
This is a starting state of a SIM card. This state doesn’t exist as an applicable state to the SIM. Instead, its just a representation of a SIM which comes directly from the factory.
Pre-Test
The Pre-Test state is similar to Pre-Active state but instead of moving automatically to Active, the SIM is moved to Test state once its connected to the network. This transition can be made manually by the user, before connecting the SIM card to the network. This state is only available if the Rate Plan of the SIM card supports Test state.
Test
The Test State gives a limited amount of service (SMS, Data) for a limited time. These limitations are set in the Rate Plan associated to the SIM card. The User of the SIM can manually switch the state from Test to Provisioned, Pre-Active or Active states. If, while in Test state, any of the limits (service or time) is reached, the state of the SIM card will be switched automatically to the next state set in Rate Plan. If no next state is defined, the SIM will be moved to Provisioned state.

Warning

This state might not be available on every Rate Plan.

Provisioned
In this state the SIM card will not be able to generate any traffic. From this SIM Card state, the Users (U) and the Operator (O) can use the platform actions to change the SIM card state to Test, Pre-Active, Active or Retire states. The Operator can also Block the SIM card and the Back-end (B) system can Block or Retire the SIM cards if they expire.
Pre-Active
In the Pre-Active state, the network automatically activates the SIM card once it is detected inside a device. The Users and the Operator can Activate the SIM card or Retire it. The Operator and the Backend system can Block the SIM card.
Active
In this state the SIM Card is active and ready to communicate. All traffic in this state is charged. The Users can use the platform actions to Suspend or Retire the SIM card. The Operator and the Back-end system can Suspend, Block or Retire the SIM card.
Suspended
In this state the SIM Card is suspended and cannot communicate. The Users can Activate or Retire the SIM card. The Operator can also Block the SIM card.
Blocked
This state is not represented on the diagram. Any SIM can be moved to/from this state from any other state exclusively by Truphone. In this state a SIM card is blocked and cannot be used.
Retired
In this state, the SIM Card is terminated and cannot go back to previous states. The Users can still view all the details and history for that SIM card. Truphone can Remove the SIM card.
Removed
This is the final SIM card state. A SIM card in this state will no longer be visible to users.

Custom Attributes

The platform custom attributes feature gives you the option to create attributes to associate with the SIM cards, then you can add a value for that attribute in each SIM card.

To view the attributes list, click on the SIM Cards section in the left menu and then click on the Attributes option.

The following table shows an example for two attributes (Priority and ID):

../_images/sim_card_attributes.png

Attributes list view.

To create a new attribute click on the Add Attributes button. For each row, you have the ability to edit or delete it.

Tags

The platform tags feature gives you the option to create tags and associate them across the SIM cards.

To view the tags list, click on the SIM Cards section in the left menu and then click on the Tags option.

../_images/tags_list.png

Tags list view.

To create a new tag click on the Add Tag button. For each row, you have the ability to edit or delete it.

Note

When you edit a Tag you can select SIM cards to have it associated.

You can have multiple tags associated to a SIM cards. The following figure of the SIM Card list shows a SIM Card with two tags and another with only one tag.

../_images/sim_card_tags.png

Tags view in the SIM Card list.

Send SMS

The platform allow users to send normal or binary SMS to the devices and accepts incoming SMS, showing the content of each message.

To send SMS, you can click on the SIM Cards section in the left menu and then click on the Send SMS option. When the page is loaded, select the SIM Cards you want to send the SMS and write the message content.

../_images/sim_card_send_sms_form.png

Send SMS form.

After sending the SMS, the history is recorded in the table bellow.

../_images/sim_card_send_sms_history.png

Send SMS history.

Note

Note that in the history table is only displayed the current month SMS.