GPS tracking relies on several major pieces of tech to work. Plain and simple. There are a lot of moving parts, and they all have to work well together to get the best performance. One part that is less talked about is cellular connectivity. It is just as important as the open sky to get a good GPS lock but is something that users have less control over.

Cellular networks & GPS

Utilizing cellular networks is how our GPS devices communicate their location data back to our platform so we can populate the map with that data. Clearly, this can open up some limitations with network performance. GPS devices have SIM cards, just like cell phones do. This means that they are, typically, under the same limitations as a SIM, and they are, sometimes, network-tied.

The problem –no signal & connectivity issues

If your cell phone does not work in a specific part of town or even a specific room in the house, it is usually because the network you are currently connected to is not strong enough. This is an issue for cellular phones, especially if your carrier has a weak signal at your home.

With GPS devices, imagine if your device carrier had major connectivity issues at your warehouse, where the bulk of your assets are. This would be a disaster. GPS tracking must be reliable, plain, and simple.

The solution –Twilio Super SIM for a stronger connection

What we have done to mitigate this as much as we can is to partner with Twilio for our device SIM cards. Their Super SIM is a powerful tool for our devices. In essence, it allows our GPS devices to be network agnostic. This means that can seamlessly swap between multiple networks, to find the best connection. This keeps your devices up and tracking for longer, with more accurate data.

In Twilio’s own words, the Super SIM card brings the world’s best cellular networks together into a single experience. This means that no matter the carrier, or even the network type, this SIM card can ensure a strong, stable connection. The carrier, no matter if it's AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile, is no longer an obstacle to a good connection.

More than that, the actual type of connection can be switched automatically on the fly, so this means 2G, 3G, or LTE connections are all available to the Super SIM. This gives you the comfort that comes with multiple networks to choose from, and multiple network types to fall back on. This tech, combined with our serverless platform, minimizes downtime, meaning fewer location blind spots for you and your teams.

Best of all, the Super SIM does this on its own, automatically. There are no settings to manage, and nothing you need to do to ensure this functionality, other than make sure your GPS and IoT devices are using the super SIM.

Of course, I want you to use Spytec GPS units, but that is a given. The goal of partnering with Twilio is to make sure that our users are getting world-class connectivity to match our world-class hardware and applications. We are confident that is the case and cannot wait to keep bringing innovation to the GPS space.