SIM connectivity overview

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How does my device connect using a Hologram SIM?

Your device connects to the internet through a Hologram SIM using the device’s modem. Each Hologram SIM supports multiple mobile cores, which we display as connectivity profiles. A profile lets your device connect to the internet through a specific set of networks and countries as defined by the SIM’s data plan.

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SIM status lifecycle

Hologram SIMs move through three categories of statuses and states: Pre-deployment SIMs, Active SIMs, and Deactivated SIMs. See SIM states and statuses for a full list of statuses and states. Pre-deployment SIMs is our term for SIMs that have not activated and are not charged a monthly recurring charge (MRC). This includes Test Mode SIMs and statuses like “In testing” and “Inactive”. Active SIMs are the SIMs that can use and are billed for data usage and are charged a monthly recurring charge (MRC). A SIM becomes “Active” as soon as it is activated and is registered on the Hologram network. This includes SIMs in Ready, Connected, or Paused statuses. Active SIMs are charged a MRC whether or not they used data in the current billing period. A SIM configured with Test Mode is not an active SIM until it exits testing. Deactivated SIMs are SIMs that have been permanently deactivated and cannot be reactivated.

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Device information

Hologram stores minimal information about your device, which we identify using the device ID. We receive basic information from networks about your device during data sessions. This includes the IMEI used to connect to a data session, which also lets us identify the the modem model when we have it using the IMEI TAC prefix. IMEI data is not sent by networks or carriers in every data session, so we default to showing the last known IMEI for your device. Your device must have the correct APN set to connect to the internet. Hologram’s default APN is hologram.

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SIM information

Hologram Hyper IoT SIMs are identified by the SIM ID, which is Hologram’s unique identifier for a SIM card. Each SIM card connects to the internet through a connectivity profile. Most of our SIMs have a single installed profile. SIMs can have multiple profiles installed, and SIMs can switch between profiles on-demand using Outage Protection (if enabled) to prevent downtime and outages for your devices. However, only one profile can be active at a time, and the enabled profile ICCID is the ICCID of the profile currently active and able to use data. We call these SIMs “Multi-Core Hyper SIMs”. This provides more resilience and redundancy than a multi-IMSI solution, which operates within a single profile / mobile core. Hologram primarily stores and reports on information at the SIM level, not at the device level.

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Profile information

A connectivity profile is a carrier-defined mobile core, with its own network settings that define how a SIM card connects to the internet. The enabled profile determines the network connectivity available to your device through a SIM when it connects to the internet. The data plan added to your SIM defines which countries and networks each profile can connect to, defining the coverage available to your device. Each profile is identified by the ICCID as well as Hologram’s unique profile ID (also known as the link ID in our v1 API). Each profile also has a unique MSISDN and IMSI. Profiles can be installed on a SIM using over-the-air (OTA) eUICC updates. If a SIM has multiple installed profiles, which we refer to as “Multi-Core SIMs”, they can switch automatically through fallback events if the primary profile loses connectivity through our Outage Protection functionality, or can be switched manually.

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Profile names

Each profile has a name, which can be used to identify the profile in your dashboard and identify expected connectivity behavior.

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Hologram connectivity identifiers and terminology

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Profile identifiers and terminology

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SIM identifiers and terminology

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Device identifiers and terminology

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Outage Protection terminology

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