Some people wonder why we call your data plan a “Pool,” and the reason is simple: If you have multiple cameras, they share your data plan, ergo, your cameras are “Pooled” together. Your Pool requires a monthly renewal to remain active, and you can choose whether or not you want your payments to go through automatically. When you are billed, you are paying for the following month ahead of time, and unused Pool Data does not roll over, so make sure to go with the right plan for your cameras’ usage – you can raise or lower the plan per month as you need to.
Previously, if a user registered for a new account, but did not add a camera until months later, they would have to purchase data before using it, since their first month on our system had already come and gone. After the 2023 Spring Release, no matter how long it’s been since you registered, you will get a full month to use the 250MB that comes with your first camera, before we require you to pay for any data.
All of your Pool Renewal Settings are available on the My Account page, where you can select your preferred Renew Tier (data plan), select your billing frequency, and choose your payment method. You can even enter your password to have everything suspend within the next 24 hours, just in case you need to – some regions in the US and Canada require a trail cam’s cellular mode to be shut off during certain parts of the year after all.
Once you’ve saved a credit card or added to your account balance, just select your Renew Tier and payment options, and you’ll be all set.
If you’re within your first month or your Pool has been suspended, you’ll see a Renew Pool button under My Account, which you can use to go to the cart screen and checkout.
When your Pool renews, you will see the Pool Data progress bar go back to 100%, and your camera(s) will have the next month to use it up before the billing date.
If your Pool Data ever runs out during the month, funds will be deducted from the account balance to upload photos until the billing date comes around, and then the Pool bar will fill back up. If there are no funds in the account balance when the Pool runs out, and you have Automatic Billing enabled, your card will be charged for the amount of your Renew Tier, and that amount will be added to Account Balance to run your cameras until the billing date. This way, your cameras don’t suspend if you run out of data, and your billing date does not change.
NOTE: Automatic Billing allows us to charge a card on file mid-month to keep your cameras running, if necessary. We prefer to err on the side of caution to make sure your cameras do not suspend. If you are nearing the end of the season and do not need us to do this, please select “Do Not Renew” before your Pool data runs out so you are not charged for data you don’t need. We will assist if we need to though.
If you have multiple cameras, but don’t need them all running every single month, you can expand the yellow bar at the top of the My Account page to view your list of SIM cards. Use the checkboxes to select which ones stay active past the next billing date. Your first camera’s monthly activation is worked into the cost of the Renew Tier, and additional cameras require a monthly fee to stay active. For example: On US pricing, if you had three cameras on the 250MB plan, your bill would be $23.95. That’s $11.95 for the first camera and the data, and $6 each for the other two cameras.
If you need to activate a suspended SIM card during a billing cycle, you can do so for a fee ($6 USD/$8 CAD), but keep in mind this fee is not prorated – the SIM will suspend at next billing if Auto Activate is unchecked, and if Auto Activate is checked, you’ll be charged again for that SIM when the Pool renews, so make sure to plan accordingly. Everything is set up to renew when the Pool does, so customers don’t have to deal with separate charges for each camera at different times during the month.
To suspend your account, say in the event of pulling in your camera(s) after hunting season, you can enter your password and suspend within 24 hours, or change “Renew Automatically” to “Do Not Renew,” and your account will suspend at the next billing date. If you have any questions about how the Pool and Renew Tiers work, feel free to reach out to us, and we’ll be glad to help!