Test SIM cards for Things
Congratulations! You received two KPN Things SIM cards! You are now ready to explore the world of easy IoT with KPN Things.
Last updated
Congratulations! You received two KPN Things SIM cards! You are now ready to explore the world of easy IoT with KPN Things.
Last updated
This page is intended as a more extensive guide to elaborate on the printed flyer you received with your SIM cards. In case you ended up on this page empty handed, either wait for your SIM cards to arrive or order them on the Things Portal home page.
Our goal is to enable you to configure yourt Device with the right APN. We will make you familiar with some of the terminology we use, explain about the use cases which you'll need to choose from and talk about the different APNs in more detail.
Internet of Things by KPN is called KPN Things. , works with the concept of five modular building blocks which allow you to choose which service you need from us. KPN Things comes in four different proposition all with their distinct flavours and pricing.
Devices - In this case you choose the Device.
Connectivity - In this case we are talking about SIM cards (LoRa would be the other alternative). The routing of a SIM card is through an APN. This needs to be configured in the Device.
Data processing - The Things platform can handle this for you, but the choice is yours: You could do this yourself. Choose Things and you'll manage data securely in a Flow, allowing you to have it Decoded into the format you need and direct it to a Destination of your choice.
Destinations - Set up a Destination to point the data in the Direction of your preferred application.
Applications - The Application is where you consume your data. This can be anything between a database for further processing of your data or an end-user mobile application where the data is immediately useful.
Read more about KPN Things and it's building blocks on the KPN website.
Outlined below are three use cases which each result in a different APN for you to configure on your Device.
Note: The APNs below are only for M2M Advantage type SIM cards.
If you are looking to explore the full potential of KPN Things, then you want to direct your Device data to our Things APN. This means you can utilize our Data processing functionality and we'll take care of security right from the source. The full experience means adding your Device to the Things Portal, pairing it to your SIM card and using the Device Twin to review the data coming through. Also you can configure the Data processing in a Flow, and direct the outgoing data to Destination of your choice. For this option configure your Device to use APN:
Read about configuring an example Device (SODAQ R412M) in the Get started guide.
If you only need our connectivity for your IoT Solution, so you can take care of all the data handling yourself, then you can direct your Device data to one of the Internet break-out APNs. This allows the device to send data to any location on the internet.
The difference with the APN below is that this option requires a secure session to be set up from the device first, before the device is enabled to receive data. For this option configure your Device to use APN:
An IP-address will dynamically be appointed to your Device.
The difference with the APN above is that this option is directly reachable from any location on the internet. Choose this APN if you are seeking to establish remote connectivity with devices located in multiple geographical locations. Note that this method has security risks. All devices that use this APN can be reached by unknown parties. For this option configure your Device to use APN:
An IP-address will dynamically be appointed to your Device.
Well, this is the sad part of this story: We probably cannot help you. 😭
The configuration of the APN needs to be done on the Device itself, not in the Things Portal. And since there is a great variety of Device types out there, with their number ever growing, we can't support documentation for all of them. You need to check with the manufacturer of your Device (software) for this. We have a few examples and talk about the basic approach in the SIM cards section of our Get started guide.
Note: The APNs below are only for M2M Advantage type SIM cards.
An Access Point Name (APN) is a gateway in the KPN mobile network between the Device and the internet. A Device will direct it's communication to the APN which it has configured. The settings in the APN itself control where the data can (or cannot) go next. It also controls whether it's possible to communicate back to the Device.
kpnthings2.m2m
This APN will connect securely with the KPN Things environment allowing you to use data processing within KPN Things.
internet.m2m
This APN allow a secure Internet break-out. This means it will bypass the KPN Things environment allowing the device to send data towards any location on the internet. The Device will setup a secure session for receiving Data.
m2mc.webtrial
This APN allow a open Internet break-out. This means it will bypass the KPN Things environment allowing the device to send data towards any location on the internet. The Device is open to receive data from any source.
Below a short explanation of commonly used terms in IoT.
APN - Access Point Name, the name of a gateway in the KPN mobile network between the Device and the internet. An APN is somewhat for a mobile network what a DNS is for the internet. The configured APN tells the mobile Device where to direct it's communication.
ICCID - Number that identifies the SIM card.
IoT - Internet of Things.
LTE-M - IoT network based on 4G, dedicated for solutions that require transfer of only small amounts of data and low battery consumption.
M2M - Machine to machine, internet connectivity for IoT via SIM card.
Non-steered - Non-steered SIM cards don’t have a predefined preference for a certain network and are free to connect to the strongest and best possible network available.
You've reached the end of this manual.
Head over to the start of this book, to learn all there is to learn about KPN Things.
