My first day with an Arduino MKR GSM 1400

I have a project in mind that needs internet connectivity but I won’t have access to WiFi so when I saw the Arduino MKR GSM 1400 with it’s GSM capability I thought I could use it to send my data over 3G.

Before I get to trying anything like that this is my experience using it for the first time.

Where do I put the SIM Card #

I already had a SIM Card from GiffGaff to use I just needed somewhere to put it.

Spoiler alert: it’s on the bottom.

I was looking at the board still stuck in the soft foam and couldn’t for the life of me find the SIM card slot until I turned it over.

First Sketch #

As you’d expect there is all the information you need to know about getting started on the Arduino website.

I followed the instructions and had the classic blink sketch up and running in seconds.

Second Sketch #

I found a simple sketch that uses the GSM library to send a message. But that gave me the following warning

This was caused by including GSM.h rather than MKRGSM.h

From there I went to the MKRGSM Library page which has some useful examples including one to send an SMS message.

The sketch uploaded sucesfully but it got stuck on connecting.

I swapped the new SIM card for the one I use in my phone and that one worked. So I tried the new SIM card in a phone and it worked fine. I put the new SIM back into the Arduino and tried the sketch again, and still no joy using the new SIM card.

Going Forward #

Overall the board was quick and easy to get going with. The hardest part is going to be figuring out why the SIM card isn’t working in it. Hopefully I can sort that and then get on with utilising the board in some projects.