Which cost-effective 3G shield to replace existing 2G boards

Hardware Arduino GSM Shield
1

Many countries around the world will be closing their 2G spectrum over the next 12-18 months, so it is imperative that we all start looking at 'next generation' modems for M2M/computer based SMS, networking etc.

There are products out there, still a bit thin on the ground... I believe new SIMCOM 532x shields will start appearing more often, but the biggest problem I see, is that Qualcomm (3G platform owner) are charging higher licence fees for 3G products than the generic 2G (not owned by one company) chipsets.

All the products I see suffer the same issue - Telit, uBlox, SIMCOM et-al are bound to the Qualcomm 3G licensing.

Also - apparently, the forthcoming 4G/LTE chipsets will be free of this one vendor licensing - and will possibly drop back in price a bit. Bt we need solutins today fr tomorrow's solutions...

Any thoughts?

2

Ive been wondering the same thing. Any update ? I live in US and trying to find a solution.

3

Anything new to report yet on what 3g shields will work in the U.S.? I need a solution fast!!!

4

I've been using the SIMCOM 5320 modems.
They have a couple of variants - depending on your carrier and bands in use.

A colleague has also been using Quectel modems successfully.