10 SIGNS YOU’RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR CELLULAR IOT / M2M SERVICES COPYRIGHT © 2015, AERIS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. i

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10 Signs That You’re Paying Too Much for Cellular ioT / M2M Service

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10 SIGNS YOU’RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR CELLULAR IOT / M2M SERVICES COPYRIGHT © 2015, AERIS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ii

Table of Contents

iNTRODUCTiON 1

Rigid and Inflexible Contract Terms and Conditions 1

Suspend and Un-suspend Fees 2

Inflexible Rate Plans 2

Troubleshooting Costs 2

Hidden “Rounding” Costs 2

Startup Fees 3

Activation Fees 3

Extra Fees for Service 3

Roaming 3

No Mid-cycle Rate Plan Changes 3

CONCLUSiON 3

ABOUT AERiS 4

iNTRODUCTiON Understanding the true value of an internet of Things / Machine-to-Machine wireless services agreement can not only reduce your costs, but also your frustration in managing a cellular communication program. The following pages will describe the hidden costs and all the factors that can increase your total cost of ownership (TCO) over the life of your deployment.

Aeris offers the industry’s lowest TCO, and we have compared the TCO of an actual Aeris customer against that of a mobile network operator (MNO) or mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) customer.

The table below documents each of the major cost drivers: data usage, troubleshooting, and lifecycle.

Over a 12-month deployment, Aeris saved our customer more than a half-million dollars. Had our customer deployed the same program with a traditional MNO or MVNO, its costs would have been 73% higher. Click here to read the complete real-world case study (or go to http://www.aeris.com/m2m-resources/).

To help you judge the true costs of your IoT / M2M connectivity, we’ve also outlined below 10 signs that you may be paying too much for ioT / M2M cellular connectivity and related services.

1. RiGiD AND iNFLEXiBLE CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDiTiONS

To get the most favorable connectivity pricing, are you required to agree to aggressive volume and/or revenue commitments for new, un-validated revenue streams? If so, what happens if your device is delayed in certification or manufacturing, and, as a result, your launch is delayed? Are you still on the hook for the potential revenue shortfall? Aeris provides the most transparent pricing and is flexible to unexpected changes in your program.

COSTS AERIS MNO/MVNO

DATA USAGE

Those that exceed 1MB are automatically moved into a 10MB plan at $0.5/MB through mid-cycle rate plan change.

Additional capacity bought at outset for devices that spike to 10MB.

Those that exceed 10MB are blocked in near real-time. Those that exceed 10MB are subject to overage costs of $10/MB.

TROUBLE-SHOOTING

Through advanced troubleshooting tools (real-time visibility, crowd sourcing, etc.) average time to resolve issues is 30 minutes.

Average time to resolve issue is 1 hour (conservative estimate based on Aeris experience with MVNOs).

LIFECYCLE

Supply Chain Benefits

Device is activated and undergoes bench-testing during manufacturing process.

Device is activated and undergoes bench-testing during manufacturing process.

After testing, device remains “active” in a non-billable state, then automatically triggers to “billable” upon installation.

Device remains active and billable from that point on.

Total cost from manufacturing test, distribution through supply chain, to installation: none.

Total cost from manufacturing test to installation; 6 months of access charges.

Suspend/ Resume

Device is suspended and is placed in “active, not billable” state; when unsuspended, normal charges resume.

Device is suspended but remains active.

Total cost during suspend period: 1 month of access charge.

Total cost during suspend period: 3 months of access charge.

10 SIGNS YOU’RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR CELLULAR IOT / M2M SERVICES COPYRIGHT © 2015, AERIS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 1

2. SUSPEND AND UN-SUSPEND FEES

Does your current provider allow you to suspend devices without excessive fees? For example, if you are monitoring agricultural equipment, are you permitted to suspend devices during the non-growing season? Or if you manage a fleet of school buses, can you suspend service when the buses are parked for the summer? Are you paying for months of service when you should be saving this amount?

With Aeris, the cost to suspend a device is a one-month access fee, and there is no fee to “un-suspend” a device.

3. iNFLEXiBLE RATE PLANS

Is your connectivity partner pushing inflexible per-device rate plans? With such plans, it is not a question of if, but when, you will incur expensive “overage” or breakage due to a variety of reasons, including legitimate but unanticipated demand, faulty devices, unauthorized usage, or emergency fixes. With per-device rate plans, your operator may collect excessive overage fees, and conversely, may also stand to gain if you underutilize the plan.

Is the overage associated with per-device plans denoted in KBs? That’s because your partner may not want you to see the actual per-MB price.

At Aeris, in addition to providing the most transparent pricing, we also tailor rate plans to meet each customer’s specific business model and supply chain requirements. We believe the most cost-effective and lowest TCO method is pay-per-use plans where you only pay for the exact amount of data that each device consumes in a given month. This is especially important if your monthly usage fluctuates, due to factors such as seasonality.

4. TROUBLESHOOTiNG COSTS

Are you spending more time than you expected to troubleshoot and resolve connectivity issues? Costs can add up relative to how long it takes to identify and resolve outages. Based on Aeris’ conservative estimate, traditional operators take, on average, an hour to resolve an issue.

Using advanced troubleshooting tools such as real-time network visibility and crowdsourcing, Aeris requires an average time of 30 minutes to resolve similar issues.

5. HiDDEN “ROUNDiNG” COSTS

One often overlooked factor that can quickly drive up costs, especially in lower-usage solutions, is “rounding.” Many organizations have been surprised to learn that their providers round 1KB per session (as opposed to rounding 1KB per device, per day), which can more than double total monthly usage in a lower-usage solution.

Aeris, in contrast, rounds 1KB per day, per device. Guaranteed.

10 SIGNS YOU’RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR CELLULAR IOT / M2M SERVICES COPYRIGHT © 2015, AERIS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 2

6. STARTUP FEES

Have you ever been hit with startup fees for implementing and on-boarding new customers? Such unplanned fees can add up over the lifecycle of your deployment. Traditional operators will charge a fee for every task, no matter how small, including setting up and maintaining APIs, deploying software and hardware VPNs, and enabling voice support.

Aeris does not charge any setup fees. Ever.

7. ACTIVATION FEES

Are you paying for activation fees in addition to SiM fees? Does your operator charge a cancellation fee with every new activation that is cancelled before 12 months? Is there a “re-activation fee” assessed when you re-activate a SIM? Most operators profit greatly from changes in your program.

Aeris understands that you must continually adjust and adapt to evolve your business, so we never impose additional fees for these simple changes.

8. EXTRA FEES FOR SERVICE

Are you paying too much for 2G vs. 3G GSM service or for 1x vs. EV-DO CDMA data service? As new technologies are rolled out, there are excellent opportunities to take advantage of lower costs for established networks. Most IoT / M2M deployments do not require the bandwidth or speed that 4G/LTE offers.

Aeris can give you excellent rates for 2G and 3G GSM and CDMA.

9. ROAMiNG

Is your GSM provider able to provide a predictable, flat, per-MB rate for US and Canada as well as flat rates abroad without any incurring any roaming fees, using the same SiM? When trucks or other ioT / M2M users travel from the US to Canada or from country to country outside of North America, they are often hit with roaming fees that can markedly raise costs and confuse billing management. Truck fleets, for example, must have a predictable rate because fleet vehicles can travel many times across borders in a short period.

Aeris provides a flat rate for the US and Canada for two reasons: one, we want to lessen the complexity of internal rates for our customers; and two, so our customers are not surprised with unexpected roaming charges. Outside the United States, Aeris offers a flat rate per region, with the exception of select, premium countries. Traditional operators price by country, creating such complexity that customers often pay more than they should.

10. NO MiD-CYCLE RATE PLAN CHANGES

Are you being charged high overage fees when your usage requirements change and while you’re waiting for a new plan to start at beginning of the next billing cycle? Companies’ routinely need to change rate plans in the middle of a billing cycle. For example, a company that uses 0.5MB of data a month may have to add testing, which would increase data usage well beyond their limit. Or a trucking company may want to increase the frequency of location reporting and thus inflate the amount of data it will use.

Aeris customers can switch plans mid-cycle and have their new plans go into effect immediately. Aeris has saved customers tens of thousands a dollar a month with this simple courtesy.

CONCLUSiONTraditional operators around the globe promise the lowest rates, but these rates come at a price. The Aeris customer list is full of companies that have seen their costs spiral out of control. Your company needs a reliable and predictable IoT / M2M service provider that can help you take your program to the next level. Contact us now, and let us help you get your costs under control.

10 SIGNS YOU’RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR CELLULAR IOT / M2M SERVICES COPYRIGHT © 2015, AERIS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 3

ABOUT AERiSAeris is a pioneer and leader in the market of the internet of Things – as an operator of end-to-end ioT and M2M services and as a technology provider enabling other operators to build profitable IoT businesses. Among our customers are the most demanding users of ioT services today, including Hyundai, Acura, Rand McNally, Leica, and Sprint. Through our technology platform and dedicated IoT and M2M services, we strive to fundamentally improve their businesses – by dramatically reducing costs, improving operational efficiency, reducing time-to-market, and enabling new revenue streams.

Our global headquarters is in Silicon Valley (Santa Clara, California). Our European headquarters is near London, UK. Visit www.aeris.com or follow us on Twitter @AerisM2M to learn how we can inspire you to create new business models and to participate in the revolution of the internet of Things.

Get in touch

To learn more, contact us at info@aeris.net or 1-888-GO-AERiS in North America or +44 118 925 3202 in Europe.

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10 SIGNS YOU’RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR CELLULAR IOT / M2M SERVICES COPYRIGHT © 2015, AERIS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 4