Renewal Strategy

When you create a plan, you must specify the Renewal Period (a.k.a. Renewal Interval) for the billing cycle. SIM plan renewal happens on the scheduled renewal date/time (based on the plan renewal strategy in UTC), and it might take a few hours to complete the renewal for all SIMs. This process does not impact connectivity.

The available renewal intervals are described in this table.

Renewal Period How it Works
Daily The plan is renewed at midnight every day, regardless of the time the SIM was attached to the plan. For a Money or Usage plan, any balance you have left over from the previous day is lost. For a Rate plan, (Data and SMS) usage limits are reset and start at zero for the coming day.
Weekly The plan is renewed at midnight every Monday morning, regardless of when (date/time) the SIM was first attached to the plan (over the week). For a Money or Usage plan, any balance you have left over from the previous week is lost. For a Rate plan, (Data and SMS) usage limits are reset and start at zero for the coming week.
Monthly The plan is renewed at midnight on the morning of the first of the month, for example at midnight on the morning of June 1. The plan is renewed regardless of when the SIM was first attached to the Plan (over the previous month). For a Money or Usage plan, any balance you have left over from the previous month is lost. For a Rate plan, (Data and SMS) usage limits are reset and start at zero for the coming month.
Quarterly

The plan is renewed at midnight on the morning of these dates (every three months):

  • January 1
  • April 1
  • July 1
  • September 1

The plan is renewed regardless of when the SIM was first attached to the plan (during the previous quarter). For a Money or Usage plan, any balance you have left over from the previous quarter (three months) is lost. For a Rate plan, (Data and SMS) usage limits are reset and start at zero for the coming quarter.
Semi-Annually

The plan is renewed at midnight on the morning of these dates (every six months):

  • January 1
  • July 1

The plan is renewed regardless of when the SIM was first attached to the plan (during the previous six months). For a Money or Usage plan, any balance you have left over from the previous six months is lost. For a Rate plan, (Data and SMS) usage limits are reset and start at zero for the coming six months.
Annually The plan is renewed at midnight on the morning of January 1 (yearly). The plan is renewed regardless of when the SIM was first attached to the plan (during the previous year). For a Money or Usage plan, any balance you have left over from the previous year is lost. For a Rate plan, (Data and SMS) usage limits are reset and start at zero for the coming year.
One-Time The plan is not renewed and remains valid until all quotas are used up.

Billing Cycles

When you attach SIMs to a plan, the SIMs are charged according to the renewal interval you configure. You can attach/detach Plans in the middle of a renewal interval. Follow the following example:

  1. Attach SIM to Usage Plan with these attributes:
    • Attach Date: January 3
    • Data quota: 1 Gigabyte
    • SMS quota: 200 SMS
    • Cost: 20 USD
    • Not Prorated
    • Renewal Interval: Monthly

The SIM becomes active and can be used immediately according to the Billing Plan configuration at a cost of 20 USD for the rest of the month. The Billing Plan is renewed at midnight the morning of February 1 at a cost of 20 USD.

OR

  1. Attach SIM to prorated Usage Billing Plan with these attributes:
    • Attach Date: January 3
    • Data quota: 1 Gigabyte
    • SMS quota: 200 SMS
    • Cost: 20 USD
    • Prorated
    • Renewal Interval: Monthly

The SIM becomes active and can be used immediately according to the Billing Plan configuration. The quotas are prorated according to the remaining time in the renewal interval. In the above example:

  • The remaining interval is (31-3)/31 or 90.3 percent of the interval.
  • The cost for this month is therefore 90.3 percent of 20 USD or 18.06 USD.
  • The Data quota is 90.3 percent of 1 Gigabyte or about 925 Megabytes.
  • The SMS quota is 90.3 percent of 200 SMS or 181 SMS messages.
  1. Detach SIM from the Billing Plan on January 13.

NOTE: When you detach the SIM from the Billing Plan, all services are discontinued, and the SIM cannot be used until attached to another Billing Plan. All remaining balances are lost with no monetary compensation.

  1. Attach SIM to another Billing Plan with these attributes:
    • Attach Date: January 16
    • Data quota: 2 Gigabyte
    • SMS quota: 300 SMS
    • Cost: 35 USD
    • Renewal Interval: Monthly

The SIM becomes active at the full monthly cost of 35 USD and can be used immediately according to the Billing Plan configuration. The Billing Plan is renewed at midnight the morning of February 1 at a cost of 35 USD.