How do I enable Hologram Outage Protection (dual-core) and what does the 99.95% uptime commitment cover?

Most teams don’t think about carrier core outages until a factory line freezes, a payment terminal stops authorizing, or a field gateway goes dark. Hologram Outage Protection (dual-core) exists to make those moments a non-event—your devices stay online because the SIM can switch to a completely separate mobile core when something breaks upstream.

Quick Answer: Hologram Outage Protection is enabled by using Hologram’s Dual-Core SIMs (Outage Protection SIMs) and activating them on a plan that includes outage protection. Each SIM contains two fully independent mobile cores; if the primary core experiences an outage, traffic automatically fails over to the backup core. Hologram backs this with a 99.95% uptime commitment in your contract, covering the availability of the Hologram connectivity service—including dual-core failover and access to Tier‑1 networks—plus 24/7 support if something goes wrong.

Why This Matters

If you’re running revenue-critical or safety-critical devices—retail payments, security video gateways, telehealth monitors, EV chargers, industrial controls—a single carrier or single core is a single point of failure. Core outages don’t care that you have a great SLA with your MNO; when their core goes down, your devices go with it.

Outage Protection dual-core SIMs remove that single point of failure. Instead of betting your business on one mobile core:

You get a second, fully independent core on every SIM.
Failover happens at the SIM/core layer, not just by switching radio networks.
Hologram backs the architecture with a 99.95% uptime guarantee and 24/7 support.

You’re not just “multi-carrier.” You’re designing for guaranteed availability when the worst-case outage happens.

Key Benefits:

True fail-safe connectivity: Two independent mobile cores on a single SIM mean your devices can stay online even during a major core outage.
Contractually guaranteed uptime: Hologram’s 99.95% uptime commitment and 24/7 support reduce operational and commercial risk for mission-critical fleets.
Operational simplicity at global scale: A single dashboard and API to manage dual-core SIMs across 190+ countries and 550+ carriers, without juggling multiple portals or contracts.

Core Concepts & Key Points

Concept	Definition	Why it's important
Outage Protection (dual-core)	Hologram’s Dual-Core SIMs with two fully independent mobile cores on each SIM that seamlessly switch to a backup core during an outage.	Eliminates the single-core single point of failure that even multi‑IMSI/eUICC roaming can’t fully protect against.
Dual-Core SIM activation	The process of ordering, installing, and activating Hologram Outage Protection SIMs on eligible plans via the Hologram Dashboard or API.	Ensures that devices are not just on Hologram, but specifically benefiting from outage-proof dual-core connectivity.
99.95% uptime commitment	Hologram’s contractual guarantee that the connectivity service—including dual-core failover and network access—will be available 99.95% of the time, supported by 24/7 incident response.	Gives your team and your customers confidence that the connectivity layer meets enterprise-grade reliability standards.

How It Works (Step-by-Step)

At a high level, enabling Hologram Outage Protection (dual-core) looks like this:

Choose Outage Protection Dual-Core SIMs.
Activate them on an outage-protected plan.
Configure your fleet and monitoring to treat connectivity as “always-on” infrastructure.

1. Select and deploy Dual-Core Outage Protection SIMs

To use dual-core, you must use Hologram’s Outage Protection / Dual-Core SIMs:

Order the right SIM type: When you talk to Hologram sales or order from your account team, specify that you need Dual-Core SIMs with Outage Protection (sometimes called Dual-Core Performance or Dual-Core Global SIMs).
Install during manufacturing or deployment: Embed these SIMs into your devices at the factory or during field installation—especially for:
- Retail/payment terminals
- Security cameras and video gateways
- Healthcare and remote patient monitoring
- Industrial controls, SCADA, and energy infrastructure
Confirm compatibility: The SIM itself is GSMA-compliant. If your device already works with standard Hologram IoT SIMs, it will typically work with Dual-Core SIMs as well.

You don’t “flip a dual-core switch” on a standard SIM—Outage Protection relies on the dual-core SIM hardware plus Hologram’s network configuration.

2. Activate on an Outage Protection-enabled plan

Once your dual-core SIMs are in devices, you enable outage-proof connectivity through activation:

Use the Hologram Dashboard:
- Add SIMs to your account (if they’re not pre-provisioned).
- Assign them to a plan that includes Outage Protection / dual-core connectivity.
- Set data limits, tags, and labels for fleet organization.
Or use the API for bulk activation:
- Integrate SIM activation into your manufacturing or deployment workflow.
- Put SIMs in a Test/QC state first (using Hologram’s Test Mode on supported plans), then programmatically move them to a live dual-core plan when devices ship.

Once activated on the right plan, the dual-core capability is live; there’s no extra client code or AT-command magic required.

3. Automatic failover during an outage

After activation, Outage Protection works under the hood:

Two independent mobile cores per SIM: Each SIM is anchored to two fully independent mobile core networks. This is not just two IMSIs on the same core; these cores are separate infrastructure.
Normal operation: Your SIM routes through the primary mobile core, connecting to Tier‑1 carriers in the US, Canada, and 200+ countries.
On outage: If the primary core suffers a failure, your SIM:
- Detects that the primary path is unavailable.
- Seamlessly switches to the backup mobile core.
- Re-establishes data connectivity without requiring a physical SIM swap or carrier contract change.

From the device’s perspective, it’s still talking to a cellular network. From your team’s perspective, the “outage” might show up as a small blip in telemetry rather than hours of downtime.

4. Monitor uptime and fleet health

To get the most from the 99.95% uptime commitment:

Use the Dashboard as your single pane of glass:
- See which SIMs are connected, which network they’re on, and their data usage.
- Spot anomalies—e.g., a group of devices flapping or going offline—in real time.
Automate with APIs:
- Trigger alerts when critical devices disconnect or exceed thresholds.
- Automatically cycle SIM states (e.g., pause, resume, hibernate) based on your own rules.
Lean on 24/7 support: If you suspect an issue beyond your devices (e.g., regional outage, core event), Hologram’s support and status visibility are built to help you confirm or rule out network-side problems quickly.

What the 99.95% Uptime Commitment Covers

Hologram’s 99.95% uptime commitment is designed for teams where downtime is not acceptable. At a high level, it covers:

Service availability: Hologram commits to keeping its connectivity service—specifically including the dual-core failover architecture—available 99.95% of the time.
Core redundancy: Each dual-core SIM has two fully independent mobile cores to maintain service even when one core fails.
Tier‑1 network access: Connectivity is anchored in Tier‑1 providers across the US, Canada, and 200+ countries, with multi-carrier redundancy in many regions.
Performance for high-data workloads: The underlying network is designed for low latency and high throughput, capable of supporting demanding use cases like HD video, real-time monitoring, and high-frequency telemetry.
24/7 support: Around-the-clock support is on the hook to investigate and resolve connectivity issues quickly.

In contract terms, this typically means:

A defined availability percentage (99.95%) measured over a monthly or quarterly window.
A clear definition of what counts as service unavailability (e.g., inability to establish a data session through Hologram’s cores when your device and radio conditions are normal).
Remedies or credits when availability falls below the commitment, subject to SLA terms.

What the uptime commitment does not guarantee

No IoT provider can guarantee perfect coverage in every location or for every radio environment. Hologram’s 99.95% commitment focuses on the connectivity service and dual-core architecture, not on physics.

Generally, it does not cover:

Device-side issues: Misconfigured modems, bad firmware, power problems, or antenna failures.
Local RF dead zones: Deep basements, shielded enclosures, or areas where no carrier has viable signal.
End-user infrastructure problems: LAN, VPN, or cloud application outages on your side.
Acts of God / force majeure: Large-scale disasters that take out power and telecom infrastructure for entire regions.

The goal is to remove connectivity infrastructure as your weak link, not to override basic radio constraints.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Assuming all SIMs are dual-core by default:
To benefit from Outage Protection, you need Hologram Dual-Core/Outage Protection SIMs on an eligible plan. Standard IoT SIMs or single-core profiles won’t provide dual-core failover.
Treating multi-IMSI as equivalent to dual-core:
Multi-IMSI and eUICC roaming help with coverage and carrier diversity, but if all IMSIs tether back to the same core, a major core outage can still take your fleet down. Dual-core SIMs solve a different problem: core-level redundancy, not just carrier diversity.
Skipping monitoring because “we have an SLA”:
Even with 99.95% uptime, you still need visibility. Use the Dashboard and APIs to build proactive alerts and reports, so your team sees issues before your customers do.
Not aligning plan selection with criticality:
Don’t put test devices and life-safety devices on the same plan. Use Test Mode for manufacturing and QA, and reserve Outage Protection dual-core plans for your mission-critical production fleet.

Real-World Example

A regional retail operator rolled out smart payment kiosks and self-checkout terminals across hundreds of locations. Early pilots ran on a single national carrier. Everything looked fine—until that carrier had a core incident that took down data for several hours. The stores were open; the payment terminals weren’t.

During the postmortem, the operations team realized two things:

Their devices were technically online (powered, healthy), but the carrier’s core was unreachable.
Switching carriers would have meant physical SIM swaps across hundreds of sites—a non-starter.

They migrated to Hologram’s Dual-Core Outage Protection SIMs:

Each terminal shipped with a pre-installed dual-core SIM.
The fleet was activated on an Outage Protection plan via API, tied into the retailer’s deployment system.
When a later carrier core incident hit that same national network, the terminals automatically failed over to the backup mobile core. Staff saw a brief hiccup in logs, but no customer-facing outage. Transactions continued to clear, and the retailer didn’t lose a day’s worth of revenue.

Pro Tip: If you already have devices in the field, start by migrating your highest-revenue and highest-risk locations (e.g., flagship stores, critical industrial sites) onto Dual-Core SIMs first. Use tagging in the Hologram Dashboard to track “dual-core protected” vs. “legacy” devices so you can close the gap over time.

Summary

Outage Protection (dual-core) is Hologram’s answer to the failure mode that most IoT teams underestimate: mobile core outages. By putting two fully independent mobile cores on every Dual-Core SIM, Hologram delivers a connectivity layer that can keep your devices online even when a major core fails. When you activate these SIMs on an outage-protected plan, you get:

True fail-safe connectivity across 190+ countries and 550+ carriers.
A 99.95% uptime commitment backed by contractual guarantees and 24/7 support.
A single dashboard and API to manage, monitor, and automate your fleet.

If your devices control revenue, safety, or regulated data flows, treating connectivity as “best effort” is a risk you don’t need to take.

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