Charges to a Hologram SIM come from one of three different areas: the platform fee (our monthly active device charge), data usage, and the outbound SMS rate.
Platform fees
The platform fee includes the monthly active per-SIM charge required by our global carriers to maintain the network and access your devices, and your access to Hologram's services. The platform fee is billed on a 30-day cycle beginning on the day the SIM is activated. For Pay monthly or High Bandwidth data plans, the platform fee also includes the plan's data cost, as data is prepaid for these data plans. Only overages are charged at the specified data rate.
Note: Paused SIMs still incur the platform fee charge so that they can access the network in the future. A SIM must be permanently deactivated in order to stop monthly platform fee charges.
Data usage
The data usage rate is what you pay for data usage on the network. Data is billed by the kilobyte. This data rate applies to all data usage on a pay as you go basis for our Pay as you go and Flexible Data data plans, and only to overages on Pay monthly data plans, High Bandwidth data plans, and Data Pools.
If a device uses more than $0.00 worth of data but less than $0.25 in a billing period, it will be charged for usage at the end of the billing period.
Data usage is charged at the end of a closed session. If a session extends beyond a SIM's billing period, charges will carry over to the next billing period when the session closes.
Outbound SMS
Outbound SMS rates vary by plan. Please visit https://www.hologram.io/pricing for our current prices.
Inbound SMS messages and messages sent via our Hologram Cloud API are always free.
All SIM charges
The breakdown of charges per SIM can be seen below:
| Charge type | Description | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | The base monthly active SIM cost to reserve access for a SIM on the network and provide platform access. | Every 30 days at the start of the SIM's billing period. |
| Data usage rate | Cost to send internet data on our network from your device, billed per KB at session close. |
Pay as you Go plans: Real-time at the end of closed sessions with a minimum incremental charge of $0.25. Pay Monthly plans and Data Pools: Only applies to overage data, which is billed the same way as Pay as you Go plans. |
| Outbound SMS | Device-originated outbound SMS messages are charged. Inbound SMS and SMS via our Cloud API are free. | Time the message is sent. |
You can view specific plan information on our pricing page.
Note: SIMs on data plans with data pools or SIMs that subscribe to a phone number may incur separate charges for those services.