So far, the XBee Hive for Wi-SUN has reached Remote Manager over Ethernet. Cellular is an alternative upstream path that keeps the border router connected to the cloud when Ethernet is unavailable. This is useful in outdoor or remote deployments.

The Wi-SUN Development Kit includes an XBee Global Connect SIM card and a data plan, so you can validate cellular connectivity right out of the box. This exercise activates the SIM card and confirms that the XBee Hive for Wi-SUN can reach Remote Manager over the cellular interface.

Activate cellular connectivity

The Border Router has an XBee Global Connect SIM card pre-inserted for cellular data connectivity. To enable it, start by storing your IoT Suite account credentials in XBee Studio:

  1. Open the the Remote Management page by clicking the cloud icon in the left sidebar of the application.

  2. Click on the Manage Accounts button. The Manage Accounts page appears.

  3. Select IoT Suite in the Add account combo-box on the right side of the page.

  4. Fill in the Username and Password fields to add your account.

  5. Click Add to store the account credentials in XBee Studio for further usage.

Once the credentials are available, the SIM card can be activated using the eSIM Activation quick action in XBee Studio. This activation process allows your SIM card to use cellular connectivity as an upstream path to the cloud:

  1. Open the device tab of your XBee Hive for Wi-SUN in XBee Studio. The device tab appears showing the Dashboard page.

  2. Click on the eSIM Activation quick action. A list with your account appears after the SIM information is obtained from your device.

  3. Select your IoT Suite account from the list.

  4. If the SIM is not yet registered in the selected account, click Transfer to account.

  5. Select the product Global Connect Test Drive 12mo/500mb from the Available products combo-box.

  6. Click Activate. After a while, the SIM card is activated and the device is ready to communicate over the cellular network.

Connect to the cloud over cellular

The simplest way to confirm that cellular connectivity is functioning correctly is to disconnect Ethernet access and rely exclusively on the cellular interface. With cellular enabled, the device should remain reachable through Digi Remote Manager. To validate this:

  1. Disconnect the Ethernet cable from your XBee Hive for Wi-SUN device.

  2. In the Devices page of Digi Remote Manager, click Refresh.

  3. Verify that the Connection Status of the device remains Connected.

  4. Reboot the device through Remote Manager:

    1. Select the device.

    2. Click Actions.

    3. Select Reboot.

If the reboot completes successfully, cloud communication is occurring over the cellular interface.

Learn more

Global Connect data plans and cellular service management are handled through the IoT Suite portal, which provides visibility into data usage, plan status, and SIM management.

You can access the IoT Suite portal through XBee Studio:

  1. Open the Remote Management page by clicking the cloud icon in the left sidebar of the tool.

  2. Click Access IoT Suite.

  3. Log in using your account credentials.

For additional information, refer to the Global Connect and IoT Suite documentation.

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