Introducing Programmable Wireless. Build with cellular communications.

Introducing Programmable Wireless. Build with cellular communications.

Today at SIGNAL, we launched something a little unusual. For the first time there is a Twilio product you can physically touch!

It’s called Programmable Wireless and it’s a Twilio SIM card with an unmistakable Twilio flavor. You now have access to program every call, text and data packet that interacts with your IoT or Enterprise cellular device.

In a nutshell, Programmable Wireless gives you:

• LTE data connectivity, using the Twilio SIM card. It connects through the T-Mobile network in the US. International coverage is coming soon.
• Voice & SMS via the existing Twilio API, so you can exchange calls and messages directly with your cellular-connected device.
• An API to programmatically order, activate, control, and track any number of Twilio SIM cards, directly from your software.
• A new machine-to-machine Commands API that provides a power-efficient and resilient complement to a cellular data link.
• And a no-shenanigans pricing model optimized for large deployments of low-bandwidth devices as well high-bandwidth use-cases. Check out the pricing details here.

In the months running up to launch, IoT and enterprise communications emerged as the most popular use-cases amongst our alpha customers. And it makes sense. Here’s why.

For IoT

Despite the obvious benefits of cellular — coverage, reliability and ease-of-configuration — the vast majority of IoT devices connect over Wi-Fi or other short-range network. That’s because cellular for IoT is complex to source and manage. For many IoT use cases it’s too expensive and procuring SIM cards is unnecessarily complicated.

Just like other Twilio products, we’ve designed Programmable Wireless to make cellular accessible to developers. There is an IoT-specific pricing plan that makes cellular an economical option for low-usage devices. We are excited to see what cellular-connected IoT solutions will hit the market next.

For Enterprise Communications

As personal smartphones and tablets become our work tools, IT teams struggle to enforce business rules and create customized communication flows. Data and voice traffic that could previously be routed, logged and recorded has now moved outside the realm of the corporate network.

Programmable Wireless brings the power of cloud communications to every cellular-connected device. For these use-cases a high-usage pricing plan ensures the economics stack up.

Availability

Programmable Wireless is in developer preview now and will be broadly available later this year. You can request early access here.

We can’t wait to touch what you build!