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I just want M2M data transmission, low rate is ok, latency is not a major problem.

I am talking anything from a few kB to a few mB of data per device, per day, and have no problem with latency of a few seconds, although I would rather that it not be 5 minutes of more.

I haven't looked for years. I used to use SkyWave, but they seem to have gone out of business.

I should add that the prime use case is data collection and reporting from sensors. If the data are a few minutes old, it's not a problem.

What's available today, preferably with no minimum data transfer requirement? I could google, but would prefer to hear from people who are actually using devices.

Mawg says reinstate Monica
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    You should add what type of physical profile your problem domain has. Power availability, stable or moving platform, view of sky, antenna space, etc. "A few seconds" latency is a big requirement for satellite and will tradeoff with those other things I mentioned. – kalyanswaroop Oct 18 '23 at 20:55
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    shopping questions are not allowed here ... please do your own research ... poll questions that ask for user experience are not allowed – jsotola Oct 18 '23 at 21:29
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    There have been a number of announcements regarding LoRA via satellite but I have no idea if any are actually up and running, nor what hardware is needed, and even less what constraints there could be (though “a few MB per day” is probably out of scope for LoRa-based communications). What region(s) do you need covered? – jcaron Oct 19 '23 at 07:13
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    Also, what direction is the traffic? – jcaron Oct 19 '23 at 13:10
  • Might be upload only, but there is an off chance of some download. If there is , it will be 99% upload, 1% download, just a few bytes of command – Mawg says reinstate Monica Oct 19 '23 at 15:35
  • @kalyanswaroop I have previously used Skywave for M2M, and it had 2 seconds latency. I should add that the prime use case is data collection and reporting from sensors. If the data are a few minutes old, it's not a problem. – Mawg says reinstate Monica Oct 19 '23 at 15:37
  • @jsotola shopping questions are not allowed here ... please do your own research. I understand what you are saying. And as someone who has professionally helped develop more than one satellite modem, you might think that I could just google. But, it's a not company's money that's being spent here, it's mine. Which is why I don't want to lay out $500, $1k or more, to discover the gotchas. I really want to benefit from others' experiences. – Mawg says reinstate Monica Oct 19 '23 at 15:41
  • @jcaron I would like full earth coverage, (or the 85%+ that things like BGAN give, only slipping the poles). Can you explain why a few mB day is a problem for LoRa? – Mawg says reinstate Monica Oct 19 '23 at 15:44
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    @MawgsaysreinstateMonica if you list the technical requirements of your project and ask if some specific solution is suitable to fulfill the requirements, then that would not be a shopping question – jsotola Oct 19 '23 at 16:18
  • Regular (non-satellite) LoRa ranges between very slow and extremely slow, and in many regions is subject to duty cycles or dwell times which severely restrict how much data you can send (in the EU region with the lowest data rate a few hundred KB would completely max out the limits). No idea what happens/will happen in satellite scenarios though. – jcaron Oct 19 '23 at 16:20
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    Also, do you need guaranteed delivery, or is best effort fine? I suppose you don't have power constraints, and limited size constraints? – jcaron Oct 19 '23 at 16:22
  • Obviously, guaranteed delivery would be nice, But I can just add a basic protocol layer if needed (which implies 2 way comms). Number each message sent and if the recipient detects any missing, it can request retransmission. For some apps, like sensor measurement, we can live with a few missing measurements. I don't have a particular app in mind, and I will worry about power when I know what it is that I am powering --> – Mawg says reinstate Monica Oct 19 '23 at 19:34
  • --> I am just trying to get a feel for what's out there. Cost of unit, cost of data data rates, etc, etc . Plus "how did it work for you? Is there a good dev kit? Lots of support, tutorials, docs? For instance, with Skywave, I go t a dev board, and could develop, test and debug both client & server without actually going across the satellite network and spending money – Mawg says reinstate Monica Oct 19 '23 at 19:35

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