Soracom Air for Cellular

Subscriber Status

Each Soracom IoT SIM has a Status that indicates its subscription state. This status determines whether the SIM can communicate with the cellular network and which subscription fees may apply.

Statuses

IoT SIM subscriptions move through several lifecycle states that control connectivity permissions and billing behavior.

Subscriber Status vs. Session Status

An IoT SIM has both a subscriber status and a session status, which represent different aspects of its state.

• Subscriber status (Ready, Testing, Active, Inactive, Standby, Suspended, Terminated) controls the SIM’s subscription state, including connectivity permissions and billing behavior.
• Session status (Online or Offline) indicates whether the SIM currently has an active data connection.

These two states are independent. For example, a SIM in Active status may be OFFLINE if the device is powered off or not connected, or ONLINE if it has an active session. Because of this, a SIM in Active status may appear as either Active (ONLINE) or Active (OFFLINE) in the User Console, depending on the current session status.

For details on viewing session logs, checking when a SIM was last online, checking last location updates, and managing active sessions, see Session Status.

^{*1 - Ready is set automatically upon SIM registration.
*2 - Even if a device is powered on and registered to a network, it may not have established a data session, for example if the Access Point Name (APN) is not properly configured or if data roaming is disabled. Although the device may still be able to access SMS services, it will appear offline.}

IoT SIM Lifecycle

IoT SIM subscriptions move through several operational states during their lifetime. These states reflect common stages such as preparation, normal device operation, and eventual termination.

While multiple transitions are possible depending on how a subscription is managed, the lifecycle overview highlights the most common status relationships encountered during normal operation.

Status changes may occur automatically based on device behavior or manually through the User Console, Soracom API, or Soracom CLI.

Capabilities and Fees

Each status affects both the communication capabilities of the IoT SIM and the subscription fees that may apply. Depending on the current status, a SIM may allow data communication, SMS messaging, or neither.

The summary below reflects the general behavior of each status. Billing rules vary by subscription plan. Refer to the Pricing & Fee Schedule for plan-specific details.

^{*1 – SMS availability may depend on device behavior and network configuration.
*2 – A renewal fee may apply if a SIM remains in Ready, Standby, or Suspended status for an extended period. The timing and conditions depend on the subscription plan.
*3 – A reactivation fee may apply when changing a SIM from Standby or Suspended to Active or Inactive, depending on your subscription plan.
*4 – While in Standby, data and SMS sessions are not active. These capabilities apply after the SIM automatically transitions to Active when a device attempts to connect.}

Billing Behavior

Certain fees are triggered based on how long a SIM remains in specific statuses or when a disabled SIM is reactivated. These lifecycle-related fees are summarized here to provide a general overview of when renewal fees and reactivation fees may occur.

Actual billing rules depend on the subscription plan. Refer to the Pricing & Fee Schedule for full details.

Additional Subscriptions

When additional subscriptions such as planP1, planX1, planX2, planX3, plan-US-max, plan-US-NA, or planNT1 are added to a plan01s or plan-US SIM using Subscription Containers, the primary subscription plan01s or plan-US governs the SIM's subscriber status.

Status changes apply to the SIM as a whole, including all additional subscriptions on the SIM.

Status Details

Ready

When you register an IoT SIM to your account, its initial subscription status is set to Ready. This status indicates that the registration process was completed successfully and that the SIM is now ready for use.

As soon as a device initiates its first cellular connection request, the subscription status will automatically change to Testing if Test Mode had already been enabled for the SIM; otherwise, it will change to Active. No (re)activation fee is incurred for this first transition out of Ready.

Testing

When a subscription is set to Testing, it will be exempt from data communication and SMS usage fees within predefined usage and time limits. This status is designed to verify that products using IoT SIMs operate correctly during quality control.

Active

A subscription with an Active status indicates that data sessions are allowed. While Active, the status will also indicate whether the SIM is currently ONLINE or OFFLINE.

The ONLINE and OFFLINE statuses only refer to whether the subscription currently has an active data session.

• When a device successfully attaches to a network and creates a data session, the subscription status will appear as ONLINE.
• In some cases, a device may be configured to create a data session manually, or it may have encountered an error when creating a data session. As the subscription does not have an active data session, it will appear as OFFLINE even if the device is powered on.
• Similarly, if a subscription currently appears ONLINE and the device is abruptly disconnected from the network (for example, because its battery was removed or power input was disconnected), the device will not have a chance to notify the network of ending the data session. As a result, the subscription may continue to appear ONLINE for up to four hours after the device has been powered off.

Inactive

When a subscription is set to Inactive, data sessions are blocked. This status can be used to temporarily prevent a device from consuming any data when network connectivity is not required. As a result, no data usage fees are incurred in this status.

Although data sessions are blocked, your device may continually attempt to reconnect, which could result in excessive power consumption. An appropriate reconnection process is recommended, such as exponentially increasing the duration between reconnection attempts, or implementing a reconnection timeout after a set number of attempts.

Standby

When a subscription is set to Standby, it will behave similarly to the original Ready status, where no basic fees or data usage fees are incurred. As soon as a device initiates a cellular connection request, the subscription status will automatically change to Active again.

This status can be used to control subscription costs when your SIMs will not be used for an undetermined amount of time, and where you want the subscription to automatically reactivate when the device is turned on again.

Unlike the Ready status, a reactivation fee applies when the subscription status changes from Standby to Active or Inactive.

Suspended

When a subscription is set to Suspended, data sessions are blocked, and the SIM does not incur daily or monthly basic fees. This status can be used to prevent a device from consuming any data and to control subscription costs when network connectivity is not required for an extended amount of time.

Although data sessions are blocked, your device may continually attempt to reconnect, which could result in excessive power consumption. An appropriate reconnection process is recommended, such as exponentially increasing the duration between reconnection attempts, or implementing a reconnection timeout after a set number of attempts.

Unlike the Standby status, all data sessions will be blocked, and the subscription must be manually reactivated before a device using the SIM can connect to a network again.

Similar to the Standby status, a reactivation fee applies when the subscription status changes from Suspended to Active or Inactive.

Terminated

If you no longer need your Soracom IoT SIM, you can terminate its subscription by changing its status to Terminated. There are no fees to terminate a subscription, and once terminated, all service will stop and no further basic fees or data usage fees are incurred.

Changing a subscription status to Terminated is a permanent and irreversible action. Terminated SIMs will no longer be able to establish cellular connections. If you need to re-enable a SIM that has been terminated, you must purchase a new SIM, register it to your account, and replace the terminated SIM card in your device with the new SIM.

Terminated SIMs will remain visible in your account for a certain duration, and will eventually be automatically removed from your account.

Viewing Status Update History

You can view the history of changes to a SIM's status.

The following actions are recorded as part of a SIM's status history:

• Registering a SIM
• Changing a SIM's Status
• Changing a SIM's Speed Class
• Changing a SIM's Data Bundle
• Adding a SIM to a Group or Removing a SIM from a Group
• Adding a Subscription Container to a SIM

To view the SIM update history:

1. Sign in to the User Console. From the Menu, open the SIM Management screen.
2. From the list of subscribers, click the for the SIM you want to view, then click the Details button.
   https://console.soracom.io

   

3. Select Update history to view all changes that have been recorded for your SIM.

   

Changing a Subscription Status

To change the status of a subscription:

1. Sign in to the User Console. From the Menu, open the SIM Management screen.

2. From the list of subscribers, click the for the SIM you want to manage.

3. Click the Actions menu, then select one of the following:

   https://console.soracom.io

   

   • To set its status to Active, select Activate.
   • To set its status to Inactive, select Deactivate.
   • To set its status to Standby, select Standby.
   • To set its status to Suspended, select Suspend.
   • To set its status to Terminated, select Terminate.

Tracking Renewal Fee

Soracom IoT SIMs have an associated annual renewal fee for when the SIM was registered in a Ready state or when the status was set to Standby or Suspended for more than one year. Within the Description tab of the SIM Details, users can view the Renewal Fee tracking date for each SIM.

1. Sign in to the User Console. From the Menu, open the SIM Management screen.

2. From the list of subscribers, click the for the SIM you want to view, then click the Details button.

   https://console.soracom.io

   

3. Within the Description tab, find the Renewal Fee Tracking date.

   

Programmatic Usage

You can programmatically check the status of an IoT SIM using the Soracom API, CLI, or IoT SIM Metadata Service.

When using the API or CLI, you will need the SIM ID of the IoT SIM. Alternatively, you can use the IMSI for subscriber-based API operations.

curl -X GET \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-API-Key: <MY-API-KEY>' \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-Token: <MY-TOKEN>' \
|  https://g.api.soracom.io/v1/sims/<SIM-ID>

curl -X GET \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-API-Key: <MY-API-KEY>' \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-Token: <MY-TOKEN>' \
|  https://jp.api.soracom.io/v1/sims/<SIM-ID>

{
  "imsi": "295050012345678",
  "msisdn": "423012345678",
  "ipAddress": "10.123.45.67",
  "operatorId": "OP0012345678",
  "apn": "soracom.io",
  "type": "s1.standard",
  "groupId": "abcdef00-0000-0000-0000-000012345678",
  "status": "active",
  "tags": {
    "name": "my-sim"
  },
  "sessionStatus": {
    "imei": "860000012345678",
    "cell": {
      "radioType": "lte",
      "mcc": 310,
      "mnc": 410,
      "lac": 42973,
      "sac": 14702,
      "rac": 255
    },
    "ueIpAddress": "10.123.45.67",
    "dnsServers": [
      "100.127.0.53",
      "100.127.1.53"
    ],
    "online": true
  },
  "speedClass": "s1.standard",
  "moduleType": "trio",
  "plan": 1,
  "iccid": "8942310000012345678",
  "subscription": "plan01s"
}

soracom sims get --sim-id <SIM-ID> --coverage-type g

soracom sims get --sim-id <SIM-ID> --coverage-type jp

curl http://metadata.soracom.io/v1/subscriber