(Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

RE: (Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

gecoz — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 20:36:06 GMT

Hi Steve,

Glad to see you eventually got everything working! It sure took quite some time and definitely a lot of perseverance, so well done! I'm still quite baffled the deployment of LTE-M and NB-IoT is so slow and how hard is get hold of a testing SIM if you are not part of a development team and don't live in one of the area with coverage. And this is not just here in UK, but I suspect in many other European countries as well (for definite in Italy, as I helped a colleague for a project there a few months ago, and we had a hell of a job to get hold of some testing SIM, without either having to pay an extortionate rate or sign your life away!).

Fabio

RE: (Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

abrain — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 22:03:49 GMT

Thanks for sharing this Steve, it all sounds so familiar, and did make me laugh, but in sharing your pain....

We went through similar pain last year with Telit trying to trial some devices in London that would be ideal for LTE-M or NB-IOT, but we ended up using a 4G uBlox module (Lara R-211), which seemed to work really well.

I’ll bookmark this and would love to hear how you get on with progressing it, if / when you do!

One of my upcoming projects will be LoRaWAN based instead I think, which although it needs infrastructure, will at least be within our scope of control, unlike trying to get an appropriate SIM or a contact phone number for Vodafone!

RE: (Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

clem57 — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 20:07:54 GMT

I hope to put more time this weekend into the Thing:91. To be fair, I have had many other things on the plate recently.

BTW, I found out that other Nordic processors support MicroPython. Do you know if Thing:91 does as well?

Thanks bkvaale for watch our posts here.

Ha en god dag fremover,

Clem

RE: (Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

bkvaale — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 14:20:01 GMT

Hi Steve,

Sorry to hear about that experience. I suggest you ask a DevZone question & link to this webpage. A Nordic tech support engineer should be able to put you in contact with your local Regional Sales Manager, who may have more info regarding a roadmap for LTE-M1 support around the London area.

Kind Regards,

Bjørn Kvaale

Product Marketing Engineer, Nordic Semiconductor

RE: (Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

gecoz — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 12:28:17 GMT

Hi Steve,

Thanks for sharing this! Since watching the webinar, I have been tempted to get one, to test the power consumption and the costs associated with using NB-IoT. Obviously, being based in UK as well, your post has put the issue to bed for the time being.I have bookmarked your post, please do keep us updated if you have any news. Thank you.

Fabio

RE: (Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

koudelad — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 08:54:20 GMT

Hello,

we had a similar experience at work. A sales representative from Nordic Semiconductor came to our office in the Czech Republic, showed us the Nordic Thingy:91 and told us about the chipset. He wanted to give it to us for evaluation, but we told him there is no LTE-M coverage (except one BTS in Prague, our capital city), so we wouldn't be able to test. So he kept it [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-d36f0491-2c75-45eb-8937-13a23926504f/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

David

RE: (Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

gam3t3ch — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 05:53:24 GMT

That's a common pain now with these dev kits and boards with their subscription based services not making it worth while for us to even get our feet wet before hand to see if the product is going to be something we want to continue with. I have a few boards I wish there was no silly fee's to just get started with it should be a grace period to play and test with a trial of sorts.

I certainly felt the frustration there as it's happened to me more then once.

RE: (Not) Getting started with the Nordic Thingy:91

clem57 — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 04:28:06 GMT

Hi,

When I got the Thingy:91, I got excited to. So I reseached the website and found the getting started. I also ried the iBasic card. After seting up an account on the Nordic rfCloud, I followed the steps and used a video as well. I did activate the card successfully. But when it came to associating the device to the card, i hung up waiting forever. After doing to the dashboard on rfCloud, the device did not show up. So I am stuck there.

Clem