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Comment by alex_sf | Hacker News Reader

There seems to be people in these comments that know, so: is there something similar to the ESP32 but for cellular networks? A small, cheap microcontroller that I can add a SIM to and get connectivity?

The only ones I've messed with before were from Adafruit, but they are all 3g which is, afaik, completely decom'd now.

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Haven't used it, but I've heard good things about Nordic's nRF9160 platform.

e.g.: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4753

I've been buying cheap combo 4G/wifi routers that contain Sim card slots, setting the router up as usual, and then connecting the esp32 to the router's wifi network. So far it's been a more stable solution than any standalone microcontroller / module I've used, and easier to replace with local parts if anything happens.

That's clever. Have you had good luck with a particular model?

haven't had any major issues post-deployment with any of the random amzn/aliexpress ones I've used so far, fingers crossed

i've noticed that if your phone doesnt get full signal in the spot you want to place the router at all times of the day, a cheaper router usually doesnt stand a chance of getting a good signal without an external antenna

the ones where you can attach an external antenna with a wire lead are usually easier to position in just the right spot for full bars, and they just seem 'hardier' of the bunch, but you need the antenna, tradeoffs

As you noted, in the US, 3G and older cellular modems aren't usable.

For current cellular technology, the keywords to look for are LTE-M [0] and NB-IoT [1]. Most of these types of dev boards aren't cheap. Particle makes a 65 USD board [2] and they seem to have a free tier for cellular data access.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE-M

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowband_IoT

[2] https://store.particle.io/collections/ethersim/products/boro...

What about https://randomnerdtutorials.com/lilygo-t-sim7000g-esp32-lte-...?

on a similar note, what are people using for 4G/LTE IoT providers? I've used freedompop and hologram.io before, but not sure what is best for low volume data traffic?

There's lots of cellular modems that only requires a serial port / uart connection. I think espressif sdk supports "AT" commands for them.

Toit (platform for the ESP32) has some cellular drivers that all use a serial/UART connection. https://pkg.toit.io/search?query=cellular. (Disclaimer: I work for Toitware.)

Blues Wireless has included data and a robust seeming SDK.

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