Will the Arduino GSM shield ever be in stock again?

[stoutfiles]

Are they still making the official Arduino GSM Shield?

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

It's not listed in the store as sold out...it's not listed at all, and hasn't been for a while.  It still says that distributors will get the device March 25th, but I'm starting to wonder if they just stopped making this shield altogether.

Anyone know?

[nixrobot]

Hi

I'm looking for the GSM shield too and I have a lot of difficulties to find it !!!

Does someone know why the arduino team have stop the manufacture of this product ?

There were some hardware issues ?

or is it planned to product a new board revision ?

thanks for your answer whith the reason, to know if i have to continue to find one, if i have to wait for a new revision !

[stoutfiles]

I did email them and got back a reply.

"the GSM Shiel is temporarily out of stock and I have no ETA.
If you need this products, I suggest you to try to find it on RS."

RS being "http://it.rs-online.com/web/".

This is a joke response by them, if it were "temporarily out of stock" it would still be listed in the store.  I need these mass produced; I'm not going to scrounge through their distributors picking up the last of a dying product.  I'm only buying these if Arduino keeps supporting them, otherwise I'm going to to move to a different supplier's GSM shield and learn their library instead.

Arduino, I want a REAL answer.  Either announce you've discontinued the product or announce you're developing a Version 2.  Stop wasting everyone's time with these BS responses.

[dannable]

As you may have read there has been bit of a falling out at Arduino. No doubt once this has been resolved the product will be available again. However, as for how long this will take...

[stoutfiles]

As you may have read there has been bit of a falling out at Arduino. No doubt once this has been resolved the product will be available again. However, as for how long this will take...

I had not heard of a falling out...are you talking about the product itself or manufacturing in general?

[dannable]

It's been discussed in a few places on the forum. Here's one link:

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=301905.0

and consequences:

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=307162.0

To me it sounds like a falling out between the person who manufactures the boards and the rest of the Arduino team (which includes this web site and store).

[collsoft]

I just started a project using an Arduino GSM board that I bought ages ago, and when I decided to buy a few more I noticed it had gone off the Arduino shop, and when I checked with distributers like Mouser it was listed as a discontinued product!!!!

So I started looking around and I found this product called the "GSM2 Click"

http://www.mikroe.com/click/gsm2/

It is based on the Quectel M95 chip, and it is compatible with the stock Arduino GSM library. It cost $44 + shipping.

Now it is not a shield, but if you need it to work as a sheild you will need to buy one of these boards that they have - it costs $7.50 and enables you to use 2 of their "Click" boards.

http://www.mikroe.com/click/arduino-uno-shield/

So, last week I ordered one and it was delivered yesterday and I can confirm that it works fine with the Arduino GSM Library.

The only thing is that this device can run on both 3.3V and 5V, and by default it expects logic levels to be 3.3V.

To make it work with an UNO @ 5V there is a small SMD link that you have to re-solder into a different position (its a ZERO OHM resistor).

Other than that you have to solder on the header pins.

Overall I am happy with it, and it seems to have a steady supply

[nickgammon]

@collsoft: Your post looks to me, and others, like an advertisement.

[collsoft]

Hi Nick,

I would like to reassure you that I have absolutely no affiliation with the company or the product that I mentioned, and I am sorry if my post reads like an advert.

My name is Jason and I do own a small software company based in Ireland, and I use the name of my company as my alias on many of the forums that I am a member off.

As you can see the company from which I bought the product from is based in Serbia, and as I said, I dont have any relationship with them other than I just bought one of their boards last week (I have attached an invoice to show that I am a paying customer).

While I am a professional programmer, electronics and playing about with Arduinos is one of my hobbies and nothing commercial.

I only wanted to give other users the benefit of the positive experience that I had with this product, especially in light of the fact that the official Arduino shield is no longer available, and that this board is compatible with the existing GSM library.

I spent some time researching this replacement, and I just wanted to give other users the benefit of my experience.

I have also attached a photo of my test setup for this board.

Anyway, I hope this clarifies my previous post somewhat.

Thanks,

Jason

[nickgammon]

OK, very good, thanks for explaining.

[st1tchy]

I got mine from here a few weeks ago. They have 2 left in stock, and it is listed as discontinued.

http://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?N=4292821467&Keyword=gsm

[collsoft]

I got mine from here a few weeks ago. They have 2 left in stock, and it is listed as discontinued.

http://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?N=4292821467&Keyword=gsm

Wow st1tchy - When I checked last week they had 8 - now only 2, and like you said it's a discontinued product so there is no point designing anything around it. Cost is €80.50

[PacoP]

from other distributors is still available.
Just bought one