What is a data card?

What are the different types of devices that can now make use of a data-enabled (3G/4G) SIM card?

• For example, we all know that smartphones use data-enabled SIM cards. Increasingly other devices like tablets, laptops, and cameras are being developed and sold with SIM card slots so that they can be used to connect to the Internet in places where Wifi is unavailable. I also saw an iPod case, and also a pedometer/fitness tracker recently with a SIM card slot. The reason I ask is that my phone carrier recently sent me a 2nd SIM so that I could share my mobile phone's data allowance with another device. Their view is that, in future, we'll all have one mobile data plan which we will share with all of our different devices. This got me wondering, what other cool gadgets are already on the market that are capable of making use of a data-enabled SIM. There are bound to be some creative ideas popping up now and in the future.

• Answer:

  There are some routers that can share your 3G/4G connection. Pretty much the same way as a WiFi hotspot app on a smartphone. There are also some GPS units that when enabled with 3G connection, share their position continuously, becoming trackers, such as the ones used by truck fleets.