Breaking News: PTEL Going Out of Business
Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 2:40 pm
We just learned today that PTEL is apparently CLOSING (after 15 years of service). The service shutdown date is 1/26/2016 or 1/31/2016 as stated by their representatives.
Regretfully, there's no news about this until this morning, making it hard for us to inform you and to prepare for it with adequate time.
We apologize for the short notice but if you are using a PTEL SIM card for your tracker, this means your PTEL SIM will shut down soon and tracking would stop.
- TK372/TK373 trackers are NOT affected by this. NO action is required.
- TK306A trackers with PTEL SIM cards are affected by this. Action IS required.
We came up with a list of alternatives for you in this short period of time:
1. The quick & easy way is switching to a H2O Wireless SIM card. You can get one for $0.01 on Amazon or
get it in your local BestBuy store for $2.99.
H2O's pay-as-you-go plan costs $10 for 90 days of service (so about $3.33/month.
After getting the H2O SIM card, activate it at https://www.h2owirelessnow.com and insert it into the tracker.
The tracker then needs to be reconfigured for the new SIM (power on the tracker, then use cell phone to text "apn123456 att.mvno" to
the phone number tied to the new SIM. Or we can help configure it).
It's a "temporary" solution because H2O wireless uses AT&T network, and AT&T is shutting down their 2G network by end of 2016 (2G sunset):
http://www.business.att.com/content/oth ... 014_A1.pdf
The good thing is that it's the lowest monthly cost SIM you can find so why not take advantage of this till end of 2016 before switching to another SIM.
2. Switch to a "US Mobile" SIM card. US Mobile uses T-Mobile network so there's no 2G sunset issue.
You can get one from US Mobile website for $3.99.
US Mobile pay-as-you-go plan costs $6/month ($2 text + $2 data + $2 service charge).
After getting the US Mobile SIM card, activate it at US Mobile and insert it into the tracker.
The tracker then needs to be reconfigured for the new SIM (power on the tracker, then use cell phone to text "apn123456 pwg" to
the phone number tied to the new SIM. Or we can help configure it).
3. Switch to our "Managed SIM tracker" TK372/TK373. They have our own SIM card and we manage it for you so it's not affected by PTEL.
The monthly fee includes the SIM card data usage, and is a few bucks more than the un-managed trackers (https://secure.accutracking.com/pricing.php)
For more info please see here.
Direct link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016FH80EE
4. Most GSM SIM card would work with TK306A so if you have another SIM card you can use it too.
However, lots of prepaid plans costs much more than the options above so check the plans before getting another SIM.
We sincerely apologize for the issue and we are trying our best provide support to your transition in such an unexpected scenario.
Please contact us for assistance and questions and really appreciate your understanding!
Regretfully, there's no news about this until this morning, making it hard for us to inform you and to prepare for it with adequate time.
We apologize for the short notice but if you are using a PTEL SIM card for your tracker, this means your PTEL SIM will shut down soon and tracking would stop.
- TK372/TK373 trackers are NOT affected by this. NO action is required.
- TK306A trackers with PTEL SIM cards are affected by this. Action IS required.
We came up with a list of alternatives for you in this short period of time:
1. The quick & easy way is switching to a H2O Wireless SIM card. You can get one for $0.01 on Amazon or
get it in your local BestBuy store for $2.99.
H2O's pay-as-you-go plan costs $10 for 90 days of service (so about $3.33/month.
After getting the H2O SIM card, activate it at https://www.h2owirelessnow.com and insert it into the tracker.
The tracker then needs to be reconfigured for the new SIM (power on the tracker, then use cell phone to text "apn123456 att.mvno" to
the phone number tied to the new SIM. Or we can help configure it).
It's a "temporary" solution because H2O wireless uses AT&T network, and AT&T is shutting down their 2G network by end of 2016 (2G sunset):
http://www.business.att.com/content/oth ... 014_A1.pdf
The good thing is that it's the lowest monthly cost SIM you can find so why not take advantage of this till end of 2016 before switching to another SIM.
2. Switch to a "US Mobile" SIM card. US Mobile uses T-Mobile network so there's no 2G sunset issue.
You can get one from US Mobile website for $3.99.
US Mobile pay-as-you-go plan costs $6/month ($2 text + $2 data + $2 service charge).
After getting the US Mobile SIM card, activate it at US Mobile and insert it into the tracker.
The tracker then needs to be reconfigured for the new SIM (power on the tracker, then use cell phone to text "apn123456 pwg" to
the phone number tied to the new SIM. Or we can help configure it).
3. Switch to our "Managed SIM tracker" TK372/TK373. They have our own SIM card and we manage it for you so it's not affected by PTEL.
The monthly fee includes the SIM card data usage, and is a few bucks more than the un-managed trackers (https://secure.accutracking.com/pricing.php)
For more info please see here.
Direct link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016FH80EE
4. Most GSM SIM card would work with TK306A so if you have another SIM card you can use it too.
However, lots of prepaid plans costs much more than the options above so check the plans before getting another SIM.
We sincerely apologize for the issue and we are trying our best provide support to your transition in such an unexpected scenario.
Please contact us for assistance and questions and really appreciate your understanding!