International Remote Access

[The Plc Kid]

It's now evident that I did not state my question clearly. The hardware is the easy part of the equation. I've used Sierra Wireless, Digi, Cradlepoint and tried out the Phoenix Contact wireless cellular modem/routers. Reliable connectivity from the U.S. to Australia is the question.

I have been told that I cannot merely request a SIM card from an Australian provider with a static IP. That I must use a third party MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) to permit the connectivity I need. I guess for the way I need the communications to perform, all GSM networks are not necessarily compatible. I'm not sure why.

Is it difficult to get SIM cards with static IP addresses in Australia or the Philippines?

Across the globe Cell networks are very different and not just GSM, CDMA or LTE. In each of these technologies there are many different bands and frequencies.

Here is a list of global LTE networks and their frequency and bands Most phones and other devices only support certain frequencies and certain bands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

Here is a list of GSM and LTE Networks http://www.worldtimezone.com/4g.html

I did not bother to put CDMA only networks in there.

There are to many differences to manage for people with assests in multiple countries so that's why they use Sat Comm.

Since you are just doing OZ you can make something work but may be more of a pain than it's worth.

 

[RBergmann]

Thanks again, Kid ...

This should be helpful. Right now we will have only the Australian beta site. Since programming support is U.S. based, until we get a handle on the first system, we need access but with an eye toward keeping the cost reasonable.

So, the use of an MVNO is not common knowledge? That was the other side of the equation I was looking at. Until yesterday at DistribuTech in San Diego, I had never heard of or seen the acronym.

 

[gclshortt]

http://www.secomea.com/industry/home/

Have you looked at the Secomea line?

Just a thought,
Garry
http://www.accautomation.ca

 

[The Plc Kid]

Thanks again, Kid ...

This should be helpful. Right now we will have only the Australian beta site. Since programming support is U.S. based, until we get a handle on the first system, we need access but with an eye toward keeping the cost reasonable.

So, the use of an MVNO is not common knowledge? That was the other side of the equation I was looking at. Until yesterday at DistribuTech in San Diego, I had never heard of or seen the acronym.

Not really sure how a MVNO would help you? Are you sure you have a correct understanding of a MVNO?

A MVNO is simple a cell provider that does not own cellular network infrastructure. Example is here in the states Straight talk Wireless is a MVNO and they run on the Verizon Network. Verizon is the MNO.

Boost Mobile is another MVNO and runs on the Sprint Network.

Still the same network infrastructure under the cover. if you plan to go with cell you have to Find a carrier in OZ and select gear that is compatible on their network. Meaning the technology CDMA, GSM or LTE and then the correct frequency and Band.

It should not make a difference if you get a SIM in OZ from a MNO or MVNO. The issue may be purchasing that with only a US presence and not a presence in OZ. You may need to find a MNO or MVNO that covers both the US and OZ to get your Hands on a SIM that works on a OZ network with an OZ based static IP address.

Using an MVNO is a legal country to country problem and not so much a technical one. So in the end you have 2 hurdles to deal with.

 

[RBergmann]

Actually, Kid, this is the kind of answer I was looking for. We have a company who represents us in Oz that can handle getting the SIM but I was lead to believe that there was some additional problems that accompanied getting the SIM with a static IP without getting an MVNO involved. No, I didn't really understand what role the MVNO plays but your explaination helps. I was told it's very difficult to obtain static IPs in many foreign (foreign to the US at least) countries. This thread gives me much more understanding than I had this morning.

 

[The Plc Kid]

If you have someone in OZ to purchase the cards I can't see where you would have any issues.

Just make sure the provider you choose in OZ Lines up when th the hardware you choose. Meaning system frequency and channel.

Check the pricing per block of data and compare to satcom data only package. You might find sat com to be cheaper. I have in a few instances. Never done anything in OZ myself so I can say but I have found that to be the case in Russia.

May be worth a quick look for you if you need to keep costs down. The sat com gear is more upfront but depending on the data usage you may break even and come out better in the 12-16 month point.

 

[lostcontrol]

Whilst u can't get a static IP easily, have you considered using a DNS service?
We have done this a couple of times recently, here in NZ & the latest in oz.
The key, is that depending on the cell provider, you will need to get the correct APN from them, else the DNS will not work.

 

[Onstege]

http://www.secomea.com/industry/home/
For once it is actually as easy as stated...

 

[ASF]

Yes, it is difficult. One of my clients does a very similar thing with systems that sit out in the field all day with no access to internet. The benefit that he has is that he only needs to connect to each system once a month to check consumable usage for their supply chain. So they use a DNS setup, and run a trace route command when they need to go online to see what IP address the system currently has. If you don't need regular, consistent access then that might be a workable solution for you as well.

Otherwise I think the E W O N cellular item will work with or without a static IP because your login is based on the E W O N hardware address, not the IP address. But I haven't got any firsthand experience with them yet, I've only just started looking into them myself, so don't take that as gospel!

As a side note, don't even entertain the idea of any cell providers except Telstra. Australia is big[citation needed] and while all the other providers promise "99% coverage of the population", well, 99% of the population lives in probably 5% of the area. Telstra is the only network that will give you any signal at all in most out of the way places.

 

[Ranjith]

I used Secomea and E W O N on few projects.
You need to pay a monthly fee for Secomea.
No monthly fee for E W O N and it's lot cheaper than Secomea.
I have used both GSM and GSM+WAN (where you can use facory ADSL) E W O N models and they work great. They just released a new GSM+WAN version without any advanced functions like Alarms reporting. It's around A$800.

 

[MichaelG]

I would look into the pepwave HD from
http://www.peplink.com/

they allow you to plug in the USB dongle for the country that you are servicing if the inbuilt GSM Modem is not good enough

included in it is VPN connection so you do not care about the fixed IP address
it can also do DDNS within the router

need to think about where your product is installed - if always near a major town (population > 5000) then you can look at Optus resellers who do have fixed IP address

If your product is mobile then as ASF said only go Telstra

 

[diat150]

Actually, Kid, this is the kind of answer I was looking for. We have a company who represents us in Oz that can handle getting the SIM but I was lead to believe that there was some additional problems that accompanied getting the SIM with a static IP without getting an MVNO involved. No, I didn't really understand what role the MVNO plays but your explaination helps. I was told it's very difficult to obtain static IPs in many foreign (foreign to the US at least) countries. This thread gives me much more understanding than I had this morning.

There are mvno's that strictly service m2m type applications. I cant speak for any in oz, but here in the states kore and telit(former crossbridge) are 2 of them.

 

[brendan.buchan]

You won't be able to get a SIM card with a static IP easily here in Australia but you will be able to get one with a public dynamic IP address, although you will need to specifically request this.

You will need to use a dynamic DNS service like dyndns.org to give it a domain name (eg. yourmachinename.dyndns.org) that will stick to the dynamic IP whenever it changes. You should make sure whatever GSM remote access device you are using also supports dynamic DNS.

Once this is done simply forward your ports on the remote access device to your PLC and it should work.

I've used products from Secomea, Weidmuller and a company here in australia called Cybertec for remote access with good results before.

Telstra generally has the best coverage and reliability nation-wide.

 

[itsmedarian]

Hi Rab, sorry for the delay in response. I recently joined this forum. I work for E W O N. We are one of few (if only industrial remote access providers) that actually has server clusters around the world including Australia which obviously would reduce your latency with your encrypted remote access VPN sessions. Here is a link which has more information on our global decentralized cloud infrastructure called T A L K 2 M. In terms of GSM cellular carriers, Australia Telstra works or virtually an GSM Cellular carrier or MVNO. You don't need a specific type of cellular plan as the benefit of using e W O N and T A L K 2 M is that all the connections are encrypted. You also do need a static IP from the carrier which should simplify things. You simply need a cellular plan that supports data and SMS (text) messages on any GSM cellular network.

e W O N is very different in terms of its GSM integrated cellular modem applications for industrial remote access. We are not carrier locked, we are a global provider therefore we need our cellular modems to work well with minimal setup and configuration but still provide secure encrypted access. We really just need the cellular carrier APN to get it setup, we do not need a static IP or private APN. Frankly, some of customers literally purchase an inexpensive "Burner" phone from a fuel station, pull out the SIM card and then use it with their e W O N hardware. Setting up the cellular function on an **** is easy and extremely quick compare to most other industrial modems.

Previous posts have suggested getting a "dynamic DNS" service or static IP. That is not required nor even recommended by e W O N. That used to be a requirement of more legacy "IP Sec" VPN connections however with e W O N, the benefit of our cloud infrastructure is not needing static IPs or dynamic DNS services.

Furthermore, forwarding, triggering or opening ports as mentioned above is not needed. Again, this is a legacy requirement of IP SEC or other older VPN technologies. Again, a huge benefit of using e W O N is not worrying about this.

Let me know if you need more information or message me if you need more details.


Thanks,

Darian