Quick Reference

Data Usage and Billing Calculations

Calculating Data Usage

When a cellular-enabled device sends or receives data over a cellular network, data is transferred using packets, similar to protocols such as TCP or HTTP. These packets include headers that contain source, destination, and other information necessary to route the data through the cellular network.

In the case of communications via Soracom, each packet uses Ethernet, IP, UDP, and GTP headers as it travels through a cellular network. This creates a total header size of 50 to 54 bytes. These additional bytes are included in a SIM's data usage, as detailed in the subscriptions below.

Subscriptions Launched Before May 2023

For subscriptions launched prior to May 2023, the Ethernet, IP, UDP, and GTP of uplink packets (data sent from a device to Soracom) are counted toward the SIM's data usage and are subject to data usage charges.

However, for downlink packets (data sent from Soracom to the device), the IP, UDP, and GTP headers are excluded from the data usage calculation, as shown below, and only Ethernet headers are charged for:

Subscriptions launched before May 2023 include:

• plan01s
• plan01s - LDV
• plan-NA1
• planP1
• planX1
• planX2
• planX3
• planX3-EU

Subscriptions Launched After May 2023

For subscriptions launched in or after May 2023, both uplink packets and downlink packets include Ethernet, IP, UDP, and GTP headers, which are counted toward the SIM's data usage and are subject to data usage charges, as shown below:

Subscriptions launched after May 2023 include:

• plan-US
• plan-US-max
• plan-US-NA

Calculating Billable Data Usage

The amount of data that is billed for is then calculated based on the minimum billing unit of the country where the data was used. Raw data usage is rounded up to the nearest increment of the minimum billing unit. This rounding occurs for each SIM card individually and not for total usage across all SIM cards on your account.

For example, the minimum billing unit for the United States for plan01s IoT SIM cards is 100 kilobytes. If over the course of the month one plan01s IoT SIM card uses 127 kilobytes of data, it will be billed for 200 kilobytes.

Calculating Data Charges

After determining billable data usage, Soracom charges customers for data based on the plan of their SIM card, whether that SIM card is pay-as-you-go or bundled, and the country in which the data usage occurred.