Terminology
Embedded SIMs (eSIM)​
Embedded SIMs are electronic versions of a physical SIM. Think of a downloaded video vs a DVD. An eSIM profile can be downloaded over the internet and installed into a device. The most common method of doing this today is via a QR code or through an iOS, Android or a Microsoft Windows application. Click here to learn how to activate your first eSIM profile.
Physical SIMs (pSIM)​
Physical SIM is the traditional type of SIM card that can have several different formats: mini-SIM, micro-SIM, nano-SIM, MFF2, etc. Connect supports physical SIMs provided by 1GLOBAL which in fact are embedded with an eSIM profile in order to provide a future-proof solution. Click here to learn how to activate your first physical SIM.
Products​
The 1GLOBAL products are the actual data plans that can be added to an SIM during and after purchase. Once the SIM has been installed, the partner can make any number of renewals of the same (or other) products, meaning that the end customer does not need a new SIM for each data plan. Checkout the New eSIM and Topup recipes to understand how the process works.
Subscriptions​
After adding a product to an eSIM, a Subscription is created to hold the information relative to that specific instance of the product in that specific SIM. Throughout the SIM lifecycle), partners are able to execute management actions over a subscription like retrieving the status, balance or changing activation dates.
Orders​
New SIMs and products are purchased by sending orders to the 1GLOBAL Connect API. Whenever the API receives an order request, it will trigger an asynchronous process to get your SIM ready, and all the information associated with it will be stored in the order, which can be then be accessed by the partner to retrieve the resources created by that order (the SIM and Subscription identifiers). Checkout the Order Lifecycle recipe for more details on orders.