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Data:
17.04.2026
Author:
Inventia Team

Telemetry systems M2M (Machine-to-Machine) and IoT (Internet of Things) are now standard in many industries – from energy and heating, through transport and logistics, to manufacturing, building automation and agriculture. Their use is growing steadily and significantly every year. They enable remote monitoring of processes and devices, real-time data reading and rapid or even automated responses to anomalies.

Reliable communication is the foundation of these systems. To ensure this for remote and distributed applications, telecommunications network operators’ services (Mobile Network Operators) are very often utilised, which implies the need to select the appropriate SIM cards. Although it may seem that every SIM card works in a similar way and that the key parameter of the offer is the amount of ‘gigabytes’, in practice the differences between consumer solutions and dedicated telemetry SIM cards are of great significance and have completely different priorities.

Find out:

• Formalities and penalties – operators define the permissible use of SIM cards

• Public APN – convenience with limitations and security gaps

• Dedicated M2M SIM cards – the foundation of telemetry

• Why is this so important?

• Standard SIM card vs. Inventia’s offer – telemetria.pl

• Frequently asked questions (Q&A)

Many, if not all, telecommunications network operators explicitly prohibit the use of consumer SIM cards in telemetry solutions, monitoring, GSM gateways or other solutions used for automated and mass transmission of data, SMS/MMS in their terms and conditions. Depending on the operator, various penalties may apply for the misuse of SIM cards, e.g. SIM card blocking, charges or fines, or termination of the contract due to the customer’s fault. Therefore, if you decide to use a standard SIM card from a consumer plan for telemetry or IoT solutions, you are more or less knowingly breaching the terms of the contract with your telecoms operator and exposing yourself and your company to the associated consequences.

Furthermore, network traffic is constantly monitored by operators, so there is no point in hoping for a stroke of luck that the card will not be blocked, as this may happen at the most inopportune moment – during a facility failure. Why? Because that is when there is usually an increased volume of data or SMS messages sent, containing information about the facility’s status and alarms.
And, paradoxically, when we need data the most, the SIM card gets blocked and we’re left without data. We’re cut off from the facility and have no idea what’s happening to it.

Standard SIM cards, used daily in smartphones or home routers, utilise a so-called public APN. This is a simple and convenient solution that works well for personal use, but in professional applications it quickly reveals its weaknesses, including:

• Dynamic IP addresses make it difficult to maintain constant access to devices and require the use of additional mechanisms to access the device ‘from the outside’, as well as hindering diagnostics.
• Exposing the device to the public internet leaves the system vulnerable to scanners and attack attempts (e.g. brute force, VNC hijacking), and consequently to unauthorised access; this is also non-compliant with current regulations.
• Lack of management tools makes it difficult to manage multiple cards and devices.
• Lack of an SLA and a dedicated support channel – in practice, such cards do not have a defined service level agreement, which hinders rapid problem-solving, and the customer becomes largely dependent on the operator’s general support channels.

In practice, this means that infrastructure which should operate 24/7 becomes susceptible to disruptions and limitations typical of the mass market, and furthermore does not comply with current regulations such as NIS2 or CRA, as it does not provide adequate security mechanisms, particularly for critical sectors.

M2M operator services have been specifically designed to operate within telemetry systems. Their purpose is to ensure stable and predictable data transmission across distributed devices.
Key features include:

• Static IP addressing – each SIM card, and therefore each device, has a fixed IP address, which significantly facilitates remote access, monitoring, configuration, integration with host systems and diagnostics.
• Private APN – devices communicate within a dedicated address space, isolated from the public internet, where security is significantly higher.
• Secure VPN connection – instead of using an additional SIM card in the ‘head office’, it is possible to establish a VPN tunnel between the customer’s infrastructure (e.g. an edge firewall) and the private APN, within which all SIM cards in the field operate. Traffic is restricted solely to specified SIM cards and the customer’s resources, ensuring the highest level of security and making the solution resilient to failures of the SIM card operator used in the ‘head office’. This also enables effective network segmentation.
• Roaming support – once a data package has been purchased, the SIM cards can operate in different countries and networks, which is crucial, for example, in the transport sector.
• Aggregated traffic billing – data from multiple SIM cards is aggregated, simplifying monitoring and reducing the risk of exceeding limits.
• Continuity of data transmission – once the Data Package has been used up, the SIM cards are not blocked and remain active. The absence of a SIM card block after the Data Package has been used ensures continuity of service and eliminates the risk of sudden interruption to data transmission
• Operator flexibility – the ability to use cards from different networks (T-Mobile, Plus, Orange) depending on coverage and local conditions.

Security and stability of communication are the foundation of every telemetry system. In sectors such as district heating, energy and industry, any interruption in data transmission entails real costs and the risk of losing control over the infrastructure. Added to this are current regulations such as NIS2 and CRA, which require critical and important entities to use secure solutions and impose personal liability on management.

At Inventia, the security of our clients’ data has always been treated with the utmost understanding and respect (#security by design, #security by default), which is why we have been providing you with the private APN telemetria.pl service for years, supplying SIM cards dedicated to the telemetry market from the three main telecommunications operators, which also ensures flexibility. The agreements we have with operators include a defined level of service (known as a Service Level Agreement, SLA), thanks to which our service boasts excellent availability and recovery time after a failure. We have recently certified our Information Security Management System in accordance with ISO/IEC 27001 to ensure that the services we provide, based on our solutions and processes, remain of the highest standard.

Thanks to the private APN, static IP addressing and connection encryption via VPN tunnels:

• devices are invisible on the public internet,
• communication is resistant to attempts at unauthorised access from outside,
• the system administrator has full control over traffic,
• a dedicated OT network segment limits the scope of an attack,
• transmission costs are predictable and optimised.

Choosing a data transmission service for your telemetry solution is not a minor technical decision and must not be left to chance, just as price or the number of ‘gigabytes’ cannot be the sole factor determining a sensible choice.

Cutting corners can lead to a significant increase in the costs of operating and securing the solution, and may also be in direct conflict with current standards and regulations.
We therefore recommend that you do not be swayed by marketing slogans or compete on the number of ‘gigabytes’, but instead consider the real value of the service, its security, and the provider’s reliability. The savings resulting from using SIM cards from a standard offering or from an inexperienced provider are only apparent and are usually brutally exposed during the first major failure, following an audit, or when attempting to scale the system.

Choosing the right solution is the factor that determines whether the system will be stable, secure and scalable. M2M cards on a private APN, with static IP addressing and the ability to set up a VPN tunnel, provide exactly what modern telemetry and IoT projects require – reliability, full control over data, and compliance with standards and regulations.

Therefore, when investing in a telemetry system, it is worth ensuring that the foundation is a properly selected SIM card.