GPS tracker sim discussion

[Excalibur]

I see the old Pressf1 site finally shut down. Learnt a lot there, great discussions and info freely shared. Respect to all. Anyway I'll get the ball rolling here with a query...

So I have a 4G TK319 tracker which uses CAT M1/LTE-M. Where can I get a suitable sim without having to jump through hoops. Spark have the tech but looks like you have to be a business to get a sim. 
Started looking at M2Mone but the process frustrated. 
Some offshore base companies look promising, especially 1NCE.com but they require customers to be a business. 10 EU for 10 years, now that's making it simple.
Things Mobile is another offshore company with reasonable offering but reviews don't talk highly.

Anyone been through this CAT M1 tracker sim puzzle here in NZ? What can anyone recommend? Tips, pointers please? I can't be the only one wanting a tracker using CAT M1??
Hoping to learn... thanks.

[psycik]

I see the old Pressf1 site finally shut down. Learnt a lot there, great discussions and info freely shared. Respect to all. Anyway I'll get the ball rolling here with a query...

So I have a 4G TK319 tracker which uses CAT M1/LTE-M. Where can I get a suitable sim without having to jump through hoops. Spark have the tech but looks like you have to be a business to get a sim. 
Started looking at M2Mone but the process frustrated. 
Some offshore base companies look promising, especially 1NCE.com but they require customers to be a business. 10 EU for 10 years, now that's making it simple.
Things Mobile is another offshore company with reasonable offering but reviews don't talk highly.

Anyone been through this CAT M1 tracker sim puzzle here in NZ? What can anyone recommend? Tips, pointers please? I can't be the only one wanting a tracker using CAT M1??
Hoping to learn... thanks.

Any prepay sim should be fine.  I don’t have that particular tracker, but I just run a prepay sim in it.  The data  charges  are pretty light. 

I also host my own backend, so I don’t have any service charges, and don’t trust what they’ll come loaded with.

[Wainuitech]

Got a couple of trackers They power up by the car battery or you can hide the wiring and put the tracker under the dash completely out of site.

Just used a Vodafone prepaid Sim, worked fine.

Must admit, never got around to installing as we sold the car But did test it beforehand, using your phone you text a code to the number and it gives you a exact location from google maps ( to within 1 mtr) It also has a map you can open but never tried that.

[Excalibur]

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas.

My situation will be different to the norm. I'm in a shaded area for cellphone signal strength. This is where CAT M1 appeared to be the answer. My understanding is it has more signal penetration with a theoretical maximum straight line reach of 62 miles/101km.

Quote: CAT-M1 trades in data rate for better power efficiency and longer signal range and is therefore considered an "Internet of Things" (IoT) cellular technology.  The lower data rates mean that the signal can travel further and it will take less power to do so.
What this means in the end for customers is that CAT-M1 coverage will extend further into their properties than the standard mobile phone variant of LTE.

Spark started their CAT M1 network in 2019 reaching 98% of kiwis. The coverage map looks impressive, especially around where I live. https://www.spark.co.nz/shop/mobile/network.html

[Excalibur]

I decided to test assumptions and try a regular sim and test Traccar GPS tracking software as well.
.
I popped out the Skinny sim from my Galaxy J7, fitted it to the TK319 and powered it up.
It worked but only with the original Sky200 tracking website that came with the TK319.

Traccar installed OK but didn't work in the 2 or 3 hours of studying. Looks like there's a port conflict plus maybe CGNAT.
It appears I need to configure port 5046 but more study needed to understand how.

Anyway Skinny sims can be had for $9/4-weeks so that's 13 x $9 so $117/year.

I keep learning...