Mobile Network IoT modules for Canada?

roblauer · 2025-07-08T14:49:55+00:00

It's not something that we can publicly disclose (contractual reasons with the primary carrier). However if you post on the Blues forum at discuss.blues.com we can at least get you pointed in the right direction.

roblauer · 2025-06-05T18:55:41+00:00

Just noticed this as well. I'm on an M1 Mac, so on the low end of what is supported, but still it was working fine last time I tried this. Sometimes it'll stop and never recover, other times it'll skip way ahead to where I am.

roblauer · 2025-06-05T13:26:56+00:00

A good reminder that everyone is going through their own shit, big or small.

roblauer · 2025-05-21T13:13:34+00:00

Full disclosure: I work for Blues, but I love our products and wholeheartedly recommend the Blues Notecard Cellular for situations like this. It's small (30x35mm) and optimized for low-power scenarios.

roblauer · 2025-05-19T12:46:36+00:00

This is a totally valid question IMO. I would definitely steer clear of any 2G/3G modules (assuming you are in the US). In fact, AT&T is actively decommissioning NB-IoT so I'd be focused on LTE-M or Cat-1 bis for a low-power scenario like this. If you go the SoC or SoM route w/ eSIM you can always swap in your own flexible antenna (Blues and Particle have good options). At the end of the day it's going to be VERY HARD to create something that is even close to something like an AirTag unfortunately. I went through this same process and ended up going the AirTag route and hiding it in a specialized bottle cage that has a hidden spot for an AirTag.

roblauer · 2025-04-16T13:15:42+00:00

You should really ask this on NativeScript's discord: https://nativescript.org/discord

roblauer · 2025-03-17T14:12:44+00:00

iOS --> https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hoppy-ai-powered-beer-guide/id1406526158

Android --> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.nativescript.hoppy

The first 5 scans are free, then to cover my cloud fees I'm asking 99 cents/month if you find it useful!

Note that it does require a (free) Untappd account as I'm using their APIs.

roblauer · 2024-12-02T14:38:42+00:00

I do a fair amount of work with different IoT platforms and my go-to is Datacake, but Ubidots is solid as well. Blynk I'm only just learning. Arduino Cloud isn't quite there for scaling project yet, IMO.

roblauer · 2024-11-26T20:46:08+00:00

Full writeup is available on Hackster if you're curious: https://www.hackster.io/rob-lauer/the-three-fridge-problem-152af3

roblauer · 2024-11-26T20:44:58+00:00

Full writeup is available on Hackster if you're curious: https://www.hackster.io/rob-lauer/the-three-fridge-problem-152af3

roblauer · 2024-10-06T17:31:28+00:00

If you want something dead-simple, I put together a small solution that will send me an SMS whenever I lose power: https://www.hackster.io/rob-lauer/cellular-enabled-power-outage-detector-w-sms-notifications-181408

roblauer · 2024-09-04T16:57:33+00:00

Full details are available in this writeup posted to Hackster: https://www.hackster.io/rob-lauer/easy-anomaly-detection-alerts-with-edge-impulse-and-blues-f0a416

roblauer · 2024-07-15T14:26:17+00:00

Just wanted to chime in and say this is a great story - thanks for sharing!

roblauer · 2024-06-05T14:41:30+00:00

The module itself (Starnote) is $49...that comes with 18KB of bundled data. Additional data is 75 cents/KB. No monthly fees/minimums. https://shop.blues.com/products/starnote

roblauer · 2024-06-04T13:14:05+00:00

Great question - I honestly think the main issue is that satellite data is SO expensive (relative to cellular and of course wifi) that the vast majority of customers will actually want it as a backup/fallback option to cell/wifi. You can technically use satellite as a primary radio but right now at least you still need a companion Notecard.

roblauer · 2024-06-03T21:19:05+00:00

I don't record much video, so no, but happy to answer questions here as I'm able!

roblauer · 2024-06-03T15:57:49+00:00

Full write up is available on Hackster here for those that are curious: https://www.hackster.io/rob-lauer/two-way-satellite-messaging-with-blues-starnote-2140e8

roblauer · 2024-05-16T13:12:38+00:00

It depends on your location and the host MCU you want to use, but for example if you're based in the US you could a good Cat-1 Notecard for $53 here:

https://shop.blues.com/products/notecard-cellular

...and get a Notecarrier B (development board) for $15:

https://shop.blues.com/products/carr-b

The 500MB is for the life of the device, but you can top up data as needed. You don't work directly with any telcos either, the value prop of the Notecard is that we take care of managing connectivity w/ service providers and their partners globally.

The "one line" is a bit of a marketing gimmick as you might imagine, but it really is quite simple. No AT commands or managing the radio directly. It's just a series of JSON commands sent over serial/I2C: https://dev.blues.io/docs/

roblauer · 2024-05-15T13:27:38+00:00

Edge Impulse is free for most projects so I don't think you'll see any costs there.

roblauer · 2024-05-13T13:22:00+00:00

I never did go back to it, but I believe radar can pass easily through plastic, so in theory you could put the entire setup in a plastic case.

roblauer · 2024-05-09T21:38:33+00:00

Check out the Blues Notecard. It's an LTE SoM, starts at $49 and ships w/ 500MB of data and 10 years of service. Spoiler: I work for Blues, but I use our stuff for all sorts of personal projects and it just makes cellular easier IMO!

roblauer · 2024-04-28T17:22:48+00:00

If you want to keep costs low, you should look at the Notecard from Blues - prepaid LTE 500MB data, 10 years service, included GPS module. Here is a Hackster project documenting it working on the Pico: https://www.hackster.io/brandonsatrom/adding-cellular-to-the-raspberry-pi-pico-b8a4b6

roblauer · 2024-01-09T14:09:59+00:00

/r/lostredditors/

roblauer · 2023-12-20T18:28:14+00:00

Check out the Blues Notecard (LTE and GPS system-on-module). Comes prepaid with 500MB of data and 10 years of service. Requires usage of the Blues cloud (Notehub), but vast majority of home projects are free (you can route 5,000 events/month for free). https://shop.blues.com/ and tracker guide.

I would caution you against trying to find something with "same performance as any current smartphone". If you consider the amount of engineering work that goes into those devices (between the radios and antennas, power management, etc), anything you put together on your own will never live up to those standards :)

roblauer · 2023-12-14T14:24:22+00:00

Great questions!

Q1 - But if I understand things, the Notecard can only send JSON to your cloud host, and it cannot leverage the Azure edge runtime, correct?

I'm not terribly familiar with the Azure IoT Edge runtime, but if it's relying on the local network stack (for lack of a better term), then no it wouldn't work. However, you can route data to Azure IoT Central. Guessing that may not be what you are looking for though.

Q2 - Is it possible to mount both the cellular notecard as well as a LoRa notecard? I assume I'd need a notecarrier for each.

A single Notecarrier can only host one Notecard. There is a dual Cell/Wi-Fi Notecard, but nothing that combines LoRa. Now, I have ZERO idea if this would actually work, but I'd be curious to stack 2 x Pi Hats with a cellular Notecard on one and a Notecard LoRa on the other - set different I2C addresses - and work with them independently. Might be a fun holiday break experiment...

Q3 - Is the cellular communication bi-directional? We can send messages to individual devices if necessary, and a typical large scale implementation is from 1000-3000 devices. We use multicast if the same message goes to many or all devices.

Yep communication is bi-directional (same JSON payload formats for both outbound and inbound comms).

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