Vodafone APN Settings for low data costs on PAYG

Zverklez

I recently bought a GPS Tracker and want to set it up in a way to minimize my costs on credit. Instead of paying 20/month for unlimited data use, I want to use an APN which will allow me to be billed base on usage. This will be a lot cheaper as I will only use a few mb per month.

Old threads from Boards.ie suggest I use the following:

Vodafone Ireland (MCC 272, MNC 01)
o APN 0 & 1: isp.vodafone.ie
o Username: vodafone
o Password: Vodafone


However, if I set these up on my phone, they do not work anymore. Are these now outdated? Vodafone offer no information on APN's on their Irish website.

Glaceon

Another APN from back in the day was hs.vodafone.ie but I don’t know if that still works or not.

smilgy

Apologies for bringing up this old thread.

I have a GPS tracker with a Vodafone sim. I used to use isp.vodafone.ie as the APN for very low cost data (I think it was on the order of 1-2c per day for basic data), but something changed about 6-8 months ago, I suspect on the vodafone end, and its gotten much more expensive, where a 5er will get used up in a day or so. The APN hs.vodafone.ie is not as bad, but a 5er will last around 1-2 weeks, which is also not great.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? And if so, what is a decent alternative?

I think the tracker uses roughly 1-2mb of data per day.

Quackster

I think we established on another thread that the Vodafone ISP APN is no longer in use. And if you have incorrect APN settings inputted, the network actually connects you using the standard Live APN which has a minimum charge of €2.29 a day for up to 100MB.

If the HS APN is still working, that's your best bet. The HS and ISP APNs used to be charged at the same rate but maybe they've increased the charge for it recently - I can't find any mention of it on the Vodafone website now though.

The only other option is to change to one of the current Vodafone prepay plans - they charge €1.99 per MB with no minimum charge so if you're using very small amounts of data, that might be better than on the older plans with a €2.29 daily minimum charge. But at that rate, you're better off switching to a Three prepay plan - €1.30 per MB for data there.

Quackster

Actually, just noticed you mention your tracker uses 1-2MB per day so my previous post doesn't really work for you.

What you should do is buy a €5 5GB data add-on which lasts for 28 days. You can do this in the Vodafone app or website, or by texting 5Data to 50233. €5 is deducted from your credit so you need to have at least a €5 balance for it to work.

smilgy

Thanks for that! Good to know Three is a little bit cheaper. I'll have to look into it.

Does anyone have any recommendations perhaps for an IoT sim for this purpose that may work out a little cheaper? I had a good thing going with the previous rate that worked out at about a 10er a year 😅.

I've done a little bit of research and have ordered a SIM from an IoT provider called Simbase. Will report back at some point in the future how it goes. Costs are as follows from looking at their pricing

• Sim card and shipping: €7.62
• Daily charge: €0.01
• Price per MB: €0.005

First year cost should be around €14.92 (assuming 2MB per day, before any set up costs with the tracker by sending/receiving an SMS, maybe around €0.50) with each following year around €7.30.

editorsean

If the tracker turns out to consume more data, BNESIM may be a cheaper option long term. Unfortunately it does not support sending or receiving SMS. I have been using BNE as a second SIM in my phone to access Eir in Three coverage blackspots before I recently moved to GoMo. BNE can also connect on Three, but not Vodafone.

The SIM costs €18.90 inc. delivery or free as an eSIM (by QR code).

BNE sells data as prepay blocks, either recurring (30 day) or lifetime (non expiring). The lifetime block does not have on-going change.

A 3GB lifetime block costs €5.19 within Ireland (0.17c/MB) or €6.11 to include EU roaming (0.2c/MB).

smilgy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123426579#Comment_123426579

Thanks for this, thats useful to know! I've had the tracker for a few years now, and data usage has been fairly consistent when the vehicle is parked. Just did a quick check on the Vodafone app, and for a recent 24hr period, it reported approx 550KB of data. When the vehicle is being used, this goes up substantially, but still not beyond a few MB.

Not being able to send/receive SMS would not be the end of the world, as you could configure with a temporary sim card, but does make it harder. Reading Simbase documentation, they dont really support sending/receiving SMS either as the sim does not have a number, however their online portal can issue SMS to the SIM and receive from the SIM, which should be sufficient.

smilgy

The simbase sim card finally arrived (took a long time!). Did a quick test on an android phone, and was able to send/receive SMS messages via their dashboard and did a very quick data test. I had suspected earlier and have now confirmed that all prices are ex VAT (for both shipping and usage). Not a big deal though.

Will install in the tracker in the next few days and report back again. Hopefully it all works as planned!

smilgy

Possibly my last message on this unless I discover some problems with it. Sim card installed in tracker and all appears to be working as expected! The dashboard for the service appears to be quite good. Heres a few images showing the sort of data available.

Usage and cost breakdown:

Showing data connection available:

SMS interface (used to set up tracker, diagnostics, etc):

Device details:

In case anyone is wondering, the tracker used is as per the last image, SinoTrack ST-901A. These can be got from Ali for about €15 delivered, or about €30 from Amazon UK. The only reoccuring fee is the data costs I have mentioned above.

Only downside to this set up is, the location data is going to some dodgy Chinese server, which I don't mind too much I don't think. This can be mitigated by setting up your own instance of Traccar and pointing the tracker to this. This way, you would be entirely control of the data. This would also likely incur a running cost.

@Zverklez, my apologies for taking over your post, but I think this is useful information for others if they ever come across it! 😊

smilgy

Following a trip abroad with the car travelling through many countries over the last month, the tracker is performing well and has no problems connecting to any network within Europe. For example, total cost for the full month of June has been €0.45 + VAT.

Zverklez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058371376/vodafone-apn-settings-for-low-data-costs-on-payg

Just to give my own update on this Vodafone SIM, it averages to around €2.50/month, depending on how often I access the data, and how frequently I set the device to ping (e.g. 15 second intervals use more data than 60 second intervals).

In recent months, Vodafone implemented a new system where you must receive a 2FA text on the SIM in order to top up. This feels like a direct effort to crack down on using their SIMS for IoT devices, as you must retrieve the SIM from the tracker which can be a bit of work if you have it tucked away in your vehicle. Combined with the lack of clear information around tariffs and APN settings, I get the feeling that mobile networks in Ireland don't want their networks to be used in this way.

Ah-Watch

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123612921#Comment_123612921

It's how they've registered your online account on Vodafone.ie. You can get them to change it to an email address instead and that way your login can be verified by both email and phone number.

Andy From Sligo

is SinoTrack ST-901A 2G only? - I would be a bit worried because mobile companies are starting to phase out 2G mobile signal connectivity in a lot of countries lately

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123802974#Comment_123802974

Vodafone announced at the time of the 3G closure that they have no plans to close 2G. They have some lucrative contracts that rely on it, such as the RTPI displays at bus shelters. Three have the ESB smart meter contract and I believe that is also 2G. So it’s not going anywhere at least on those two networks.

Andy From Sligo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803061#Comment_123803061

My EV car (Renault Zoe) Has a 2.5G EDGE TCU unit for connectivity - Renault support have discontinued the Connectivity package citing that the 2G network was being turned off so they were no longer going to support it or renew the subscriptions