Cell Notecard continuous mode hub.set with sync:true est monthly cost?

I need to estimate a new project that requires commands with ack over notecard cell. Device is fully powered always on. Commands with ack need to be acted on within 1-2 min.

I’ve already calculated cost per commands in MB… just need idle time costs if kept in continuous. If no notes are sent/received what is the monthly cost in MB of my blues cell plan.

ASK: is the calculation below correct - About 1.8 MB per month if idle 24/7 ?

Given:

  • Data used per hour idle = 2.5 KB/hour

  • 1 month ≈ 30 days → 30 days × 24 hours/day = 720 hours

  • 2.5 KB/hour×720 hours=1800 KB

  • 1800 KB÷1024≈1.76 MB - About 1.8 MB per month if idle 24/7

ASK: I also check on starting a session Data Usage: 26KB +/- 3KB. Is the breakeven point to setting inbound/outbound 10 hours? always do “sync”:true if needed every 1 min?

(1) Low Bandwidth Design - IoT Connectivity at Blues

Test: Idle (hub.set with sync:true) section

Hi @briancarter,

ASK : is the calculation below correct - About 1.8 MB per month if idle 24/7 ?

Yes, but keep in mind the data usage numbers provided in that doc are estimates and your real world usage (i.e. signal quality, connection retries) will have an impact.

ASK: I also check on starting a session Data Usage: 26KB +/- 3KB. Is the breakeven point to setting inbound/outbound 10 hours? always do “sync”:true if needed every 1 min?

To be clear, the usage values you refer to assume a “cold” start after a Notecard reboot (so it’s the worst case scenario in terms of high data usage). If you are truly starting a new session while in continuous mode (e.g. with the hub.set/duration arg), the data used will be much lower. To get an accurate calculation of the breakeven point for this, I think you’d first have to test this in an actual deployment using your configs. In general though, if you require 1-2 min responsiveness for inbound data, using continuous mode and sync:true is the best way to go.

Thanks,
Rob

Hello @RobLauer
A question and quick follow up - ran cell continuous with sync true with no activity/notes last 4 days. Daily usage is 88KB so if I project this out: month ~2.7MB, year ~32MB.

Question: When the 500MB is consumed for a device, how do Consumption Credits applied to add cell data usage?

Will be years down the road but just want to understand how this works. TY!

Hi @briancarter,

If you have a payment method on file in your billing account, when you hit ~100MB remaining on a Notecard you’ll get another 500MB and 10 years of service added automatically.

Rob

@RobLauer is there an additional charge or charge to consumption credits for the 500MB added?

Hi @briancarter,

Ah sorry, those are one-time charges of $10 for North America Notecards and $15 for non-NA Notecards (e.g. NBGL/WBEX etc).

Rob