When Does an IoT SIM Card Start to Get Billed?

An IoT SIM card gets billed from the time when it is activated (that is, when the system starts to calculate the card usage time).

For physical SIM cards, inactive or test period will not be counted into validity period. When a card gets manually activated (getting inserted into a device or activated on the console) within the inactive/test period or automatically activated after these periods, the system starts to calculate the card usage time. The validity period is the same as the required duration (one or three years) of the order. Data is provided by month based on the purchased plan and is reset in the next month. The billing cycle is by calendar month for China Telecom, China Mobile, and carriers outside the Chinese mainland. China Unicom bills from the 27th of the previous month to the 26th of the current month.