Which Tracker SIM Card ???

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geoberni
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Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by geoberni »

Hi
a Question for those who are UK based and have used or are using a Tracker with a SIM Card in it.

I'm currently trying to get a Tracker working with an ASDA Mobile 2/3/4G SIM card which should work as it works fine in a phone which I know from the technical spec is only a 2G phone. ASDA use the EE Network.
But the darn thing simply will not find the network when in the Tracker.
Like many/all of these tracker devices, it says it only accepts a 2G SIM, but a purely 2G SIM is nigh on impossible to find in the UK, they just make 4/3/2G backward compatible SIMs (except Three as they are a 3G/4G only network).

So which networks SIMs are people using??
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jagnut66
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by jagnut66 »

Hi,
We used to use EE for our gate phones at the entrances to my place of work, as they use a sim card, rather than the old fashioned method of hard wiring them into the onsite telephone system.
To cut a long story short we had so much trouble with service / the network, that we got rid of them in favour of an alternative network supplier in the end.
Personally I never experienced any issues with the old hard wired systems I have used in the past, whereas I think this modern sim card set up is c**p!
Even these days a mobile signal (from any network supplier) can be hit or miss.......
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Mike.
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by KeithL »

Have you tried talking to the Tracker technical team? I have always found them very helpful in the past and they may be able to recommend a SIM card(s) that they know will work.

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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by Banned User »

Did this for a friend of mine, we used a giffgaff sim, it’s a 2/3/4g sim and we set the tracker to use the 2g aspect of it. So you’ll need to get the settings for the tracker as you’ve already established that the sim works in 2g.
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by Sleeper »

I have a pay as you go sim from o2 , with £10:00 credit on it , tested monthly to check it's still working ( and keep the sim alive ) costs me 2p , so should last 41.66 years befor it need topping up ;-)

John ;-)
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by Apolaustic »

Giffgaff works for ours. :)
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geoberni
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by geoberni »

KeithL wrote: Mon Jan 13, 2020 9:01 pm Have you tried talking to the Tracker technical team? I have always found them very helpful in the past and they may be able to recommend a SIM card(s) that they know will work.
Not a chance. It's from ebay so ruddy Chinglish Instructions with even worse when it comes to talking to the Seller. Plenty of videos on youtube, all of which show it working as advertised, but they're all in various Indian/Asian or Eastern European languages.... :roll:
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geoberni
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by geoberni »

Sleeper wrote: Mon Jan 13, 2020 9:09 pm I have a pay as you go sim from o2 , with £10:00 credit on it , tested monthly to check it's still working ( and keep the sim alive ) costs me 2p , so should last 41.66 years befor it need topping up ;-)

John ;-)
Thanks, unfortunately I read that O2 have stopped new use of that PAYG system, and their plans now have different top-up requirements for new activations as of the new year...
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by dp »

I use a giffgaff sim in a Tk103 tracker off Ebay.

If the tracker is so picky would it be worth upgrading? The Tk103 is only £20 or less on Ebay these days. Chinglish but does the job.

Having my main mobile also on giffgaff the texts are free and the sim costs about £5 a month I think.

One thing that might be causing an issue for you, my instructions said that the sim should be set as data not voice and that voicemail should be disabled. I use an old mobile phone to set the sim correctly before installing in the tracker.
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geoberni
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by geoberni »

dp wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:20 pm I use a giffgaff sim in a Tk103 tracker off Ebay.

If the tracker is so picky would it be worth upgrading? The Tk103 is only £20 or less on Ebay these days. Chinglish but does the job.

Having my main mobile also on giffgaff the texts are free and the sim costs about £5 a month I think.

One thing that might be causing an issue for you, my instructions said that the sim should be set as data not voice and that voicemail should be disabled. I use an old mobile phone to set the sim correctly before installing in the tracker.
Thanks for that dp, especially the bit about setting the SIM to data not voice. I've no idea how to do that, but I'll look it up.
The one Ive got has plenty of videos on youtube, unfortunately all from India/Asia or Eastern Europe where the demonstrate it working fine, you can even see the markings on some of the SIMs being used that they are 4G.

I considered the TK103 but it looked a bit large and with too many functions for what I wanted. The one I got was this type (not this seller) with a simple 2/3 wire connection, of which I intended to use just the 2.

I shall try and find some more sensible instructions for it. :roll:
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by dp »

geoberni wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:42 pm
dp wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:20 pm I use a giffgaff sim in a Tk103 tracker off Ebay.

If the tracker is so picky would it be worth upgrading? The Tk103 is only £20 or less on Ebay these days. Chinglish but does the job.

Having my main mobile also on giffgaff the texts are free and the sim costs about £5 a month I think.

One thing that might be causing an issue for you, my instructions said that the sim should be set as data not voice and that voicemail should be disabled. I use an old mobile phone to set the sim correctly before installing in the tracker.
Thanks for that dp, especially the bit about setting the SIM to data not voice. I've no idea how to do that, but I'll look it up.
The one Ive got has plenty of videos on youtube, unfortunately all from India/Asia or Eastern Europe where the demonstrate it working fine, you can even see the markings on some of the SIMs being used that they are 4G.

I considered the TK103 but it looked a bit large and with too many functions for what I wanted. The one I got was this type (not this seller) with a simple 2/3 wire connection, of which I intended to use just the 2.

I shall try and find some more sensible instructions for it. :roll:
I should have said, I never managed to get the TK103 to actually do any of the more interesting functions. Ie geofencing and switching a relay on and off. I just used it as something I could phone and it would ring off and text me its location which automatically pulled up google maps, very accurately. Oh it did tell me if the battery disconnected but that's about it.

What make is the one you have?
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geoberni
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by geoberni »

Hi dp
I've got this one.
It seems to be a generic model, sold by a great many outlets on ebay with quite a price range but this one is typical pricing.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waterproof-G ... SwwHpbZAVc

The reason I went for it is that many models don't have an internal battery, so disconnecting the car battery would disable it; this style has about 3-4 hours of internal battery life.
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geoberni
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by geoberni »

dp wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:20 pm
One thing that might be causing an issue for you, my instructions said that the sim should be set as data not voice and that voicemail should be disabled. I use an old mobile phone to set the sim correctly before installing in the tracker.
Hi dp
What exactly is this about? I searched for it and nothing comes up.
How on earth do you set a SIM to DATA not Voice?
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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by dp »

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Re: Which Tracker SIM Card ???

Post by geoberni »

Thanks DP
I've now got a giffgaff SIM and have got the Tracker working for Text of location.
To summarise a long story, I found the Tracker would work on my Virgin contract SIM, which uses the EE network, the same as the ASDA PAYG I was trying to use.
I've now been waiting several days for ASDA to explain why their SIM doesn't work in a tracker, but in the meanwhile the GiffGaff seems to be working fine.
I just need to explore some more of the TEXT Code options as the Chinglish is terrible in the leaflet.
As we don't live in a good mobile data area, I may just keep it on text messages.
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