It is almost always the SIM, and almost never the unit. Checking in order saves trips to the vehicle, which is where support money disappears. Here is the list, from the most common to the rarest.
Suspended for non-payment is cause number one, and you can check it without leaving the office.
If the SIM changed carrier and the APN stayed on the old one, the device powers up and sends nothing.
A basement, a yard with a metal roof or a rural area with no signal explain long silences.
A loose connector after a trip to the workshop is the classic. If the vehicle has been serviced, start there.
The time of the last data point tells you a lot: matching the last trip points to power; mid-route points to coverage.
If it is a newly registered device that never reported, it is not a fault: it is misconfigured.
Exact words you can use on the visit. No jargon.
«Before I send anyone out, I check the SIM and the time of the last report. Eight out of ten are solved right there.»
«If it never reported since we fitted it, it is not broken: it was registered wrong.»
You resell under your own brand. This is who it works for, and with what argument.
The device keeps the connection and sends, but with no valid position. It looks like it works and it does not.
If an old one was left fitted, the map shows two different dots for the same car.
It can be normal for that model, or a power cable fitted wrong.
Where there is no cellular network there is no report. There, the answer is satellite coverage.
The data SIM. Suspended for non-payment is cause number one, and you can check it without leaving the office.
Yes, that is the second cause. If the SIM changed carrier and the APN stayed on the old one, the device powers up and sends nothing.
Almost never. A device that never reported is usually registered wrong: identifier, protocol or port. The ones that break normally reported before.
It keeps the connection but is not delivering a valid position. Connected is not the same as locating: check the time of the last report too.
With no network there is no report at that moment; the data arrives when coverage returns. For areas with no cellular network the answer is satellite coverage.
Support is for you, not for your client: we help you find it without your client knowing you asked.