50+ core concepts · SIMs and platform, plans and traffic, payment and settlement, channels and users
This glossary covers IoT SIM cards, operators, data plans, payment and settlement, channel management, and suspend and resume. Open a term for the explanation.
This page is a directory of terms used in IoT connectivity management. It fixes the phrases that keep coming up from the moment a SIM enters stock until it is retired, and from plan pricing through to channel revenue share. It is not a list of product features, and it does not replace an API document. The same word can point at different objects in a contract, on an operator bill, and in a platform field. “Activation” sometimes means the SIM status moving from unactivated to usable, and sometimes means the plan starting to bill. “Settlement” sometimes means the enterprise paying the operator, and sometimes means the enterprise paying an agent. When you look up a term, first see whether it constrains number-range stock, status on the cellular side, or an order amount. Do not change all three in one configuration pass. The directory is grouped into SIMs and platform, operators, plans and traffic, payment and settlement, and channels and users. The groups are only for finding a term. They are not an implementation order. Implementation usually needs the operator-side SIM and tariff first, then a house plan, and only then user payment and channel share.
A SIM that is actually opened rarely lands on a single term. After the number range is stocked, see which day the activation validity starts counting down from. After activation finishes, see whether first activation time starts the plan immediately. The plan itself comes from packaging. Packaging relies on operator mapping to tie a house name to a product code, and provisioning is what writes that code onto the SIM. Once usage arrives, the billing mode decides whether it is rated by volume, by time, or by a pool share, and the overage rule decides whether exhaustion keeps billing or suspends the SIM. Suspend and resume follow the reason code. They do not follow whether the user has just paid. If the SIM passed through a channel, first distinguish an agent’s purchase order from a distributor’s quota, and then decide whether share is settled at month end or split when payment is taken. Reading card lifecycle strings the statuses together. Reading operator mapping strings “the name that is sold” to “the product on the network side.” When both terms line up, the SIM has moved from stock to something that can be billed.
The identifier and the number are not the same search key. After a number change, the old number cannot still be the current SIM number. Card status is the main status. A silent period or a test period is at most a sub-status, and a sub-status cannot be used to click resume. Usage shown on the platform has a bill period and a sync time. When it is a day off the operator bill, align the cycle before arguing about who miscounted. A payment success page is not a booking. Booking waits for a notice whose signature has been checked, or for an active order lookup. Invoice amounts follow orders that have been paid. They do not follow the traffic detail. What multi-tenant separates is data and configuration. Changing a logo does not by itself become another tenant. If two terms seem to conflict, follow the field the operation actually writes. Changing status without changing the cycle start means the lifecycle was touched, not first activation time. This directory does not record customer scale, availability, or certification numbers. Those figures move with the contract and should not be written into a term.
SimtoLink splits connectivity management along these terms, rather than wrapping it in one “SIM management” button. Number ranges and status correspond to opening, query, and suspend or resume. Tariffs and usage correspond to plan packaging, provisioning, billing, and reconciliation. Collections correspond to payment notices, split payment, and e-invoices. Channels correspond to agent purchasing, distributor quota, and portal permissions. Before configuring, find the primary term in the directory, then open the related terms, and confirm that two fields have not been wired to the same switch. Batch activation, for example, has to look at activation validity and first activation time together. Configuring only a day count makes a preinstalled SIM start billing in the warehouse, or leaves a number range that cannot be taken back when it expires. Term pages keep the explanation in this language, and the other language is maintained as its own mirror, so the two sides do not grow definitions that cannot be compared. When you need to know which field an operation should change, read the conditions in the matching term first, then return to the platform settings. Do not guess from the menu name alone.