It seems that pretty much everyone is getting in on the IoT Game these days. There is a plethora of IoT boards, devices, sensors and other accessories on the market. The new AT&T IoT Starter Kit is one of the latest endeavors into IoT and this time from a telecom instead of just yet another manufacturer. This seems to be a play from AT&T to get you to use their cellular service specifically for your next IoT solution.
AT&T IoT Starter Kit
The AT&T IoT Starter Kit is a development platform designed to aid in the IoT prototyping process. It even come with a few AT&T services at no additional cost once purchasing the kit:
- 300 SMS for use over 6 months
- 300 MB of Data for use over 6 months
- Domestic AT&T US and AT&T Mexico, no roaming
Additionally, the AT&T IoT Starter Kit is built with support for 4G LTE wireless connectivity. This kit can be used to build IoT devices that utilize modern cellular connectivity.
The full AT&T IoT Starter Kit costs $99 USD and includes the following:
NXP FRDM-K64F Freedom Board
- AT&T LTE SIM
- Avnet M14A2A Cellular Shield
- 2x Pulse LTE antennas
- 2x Micro USB cables
- 5V power supply
- Quick Start Card
The AT&T IoT Starter Kit include support for integrating with Microsoft Azure IoT Suite. There’s additional documentation available on the AT&T IoT Starter Kit website.
Freedom Board FRDM-K64F Specs
The NXP FRDM-K64F Freedom Board included in the AT&T IoT Starter Kit isn’t proprietary to AT&T and can be purchased separately for approx. $60 USD for the individual board.
The NXP FRDM-K64F Freedom Board has the following specs:
- MK64FN1M0VLL12 MCU (120 Mhz ARM Cortex-M4)
- 1 MB flash memory
- 256 KB RAM
- RGB LED
- Dual-role USB interface with Micro USB connector
- FXOS8700CQ accelerometer and magnetometer
- 2x user push buttons
- Ethernet
There are other cellular connectivity options to use with other IoT boards, but the AT&T IoT Starter Kit does come with some free cellular SMS and Data usage for development. This is really just yet another option to add to the list of boards and kits to use when deciding what IoT hardware will suite the needs of the next IoT solution.
Happy building!