# Can I Use the Sensor Without a Constant Wi-Fi Connection?
**URL:** https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833
**Category:** FAQ
**Created:** [May 9, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833 "2025-05-09T12:55:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Bernd](https://forum.sensor.community/u/Bernd)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833/1 "2025-05-09T12:55:17Z")
Hello everyone,
I’m planning to use the sensor in a location without a constant Wi-Fi connection. I can provide internet access via a mobile hotspot from my phone, but only once or twice a week, and only for a few hours at a time.
My questions are:
1. Will the sensor still function without being connected to the internet?
2. Does it only operate while connected?
3. Will it store measurement data locally when offline?
4. Can I retrieve this stored data whenever I connect it to my phone’s hotspot?
Thank you very much for your support!
Best regards,
Bernd
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### Author:  [@pjg](https://forum.sensor.community/u/pjg)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2025, 2:43pm UTC](https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833/2 "2025-05-09T14:43:28Z")
Welcome!
1-No because it will stop to produce its own network after 10 min. You won’t be able to see the measurements if you have no screen on the sensor.
2-Yes. It is the only way to send the data to the SC API and to see the data through the router.
3-No.
4-No. And we can’t guarantee that it works through a phone hotspot. I have already succeeded but most of the time it does not work.
Could you get access to a LoRaWAN network ? But in this case you need another kind of board.
NB-Iot could also be a solution but it is complicated without programming skills. Feel free to contact me for libraries etc.
You could also collect data on a SD card but you won’t be able to send the data to SC.
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### Author:  [@bertrik](https://forum.sensor.community/u/bertrik)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833/3 "2025-05-10T16:40:25Z")
Something I’ve been playing with lately: meshtastic, it’s a LoRa network/protocol. In some ways a bit similar to TheThingsNetwork/LoRaWAN, but not as sophisticated yet. LoRaWAN is structured like a star-network, with a couple of well-placed gateways serving potentially hundreds of nodes. Meshtastic is more like a peer-to-peer mesh network, each node can als act as ‘gateway’ to repeat a message to the next node. A fraction of meshtastic nodes is also connected to the internet. LoRaWAN typically uses 8 frequencies and several different modulation speeds. Meshtastic can use different frequencies too and different modulation speeds, but typically (in EU at least), the de-facto standard is SF11 modulation at just one channel/frequency at 869.525 MHz.
So it would be possible to build a sensor node that sends data towards meshtastic and if the message reaches (within 3 hops typically) a node that has MQTT connectivity, the message is forwarded to an MQTT server. A backend-process can then pick up that message from MQTT and forward it further to sensor.community.
Unlike TheThingsNetwork, the current meshtastic infrastructure is a bit ad-hoc, there is a kind of “central” MQTT server that is used by most internet-connected meshtastic nodes in the netherlands, but I don’t know about the situation in germany or in other european countries.
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### Author:  [@gbaalderink](https://forum.sensor.community/u/gbaalderink)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833/4 "2025-05-12T13:36:21Z")
We have develop based on SC firmware our own firmware version connected to BK-SIM7000 PCB board (SIM7000 Development Board) =\> Multi-Band LTE module which supports LTE CAT-M1(eMTC) and NB-IoT based on 4G.
Is now in test fase:
Has been working in the field for 3 months now without any problems.
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### Author:  [@pjg](https://forum.sensor.community/u/pjg)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2025, 7:44am UTC](https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833/5 "2025-05-13T07:44:06Z")
I succeeded to use the Sparkfun NB-IoT board with a Hologram Sim Card. I was amazed it worked.
> **[GitHub - aircarto/MobileAir at develop](https://github.com/aircarto/MobileAir/tree/develop)**
>
> develop
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### Author:  [@Vasily\_K](https://forum.sensor.community/u/Vasily_K)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2025, 8:29am UTC](https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833/6 "2025-06-10T08:29:21Z")
Can I see your solution anywhere on GitHub, or is it private?
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### Author:  [@gbaalderink](https://forum.sensor.community/u/gbaalderink)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2025, 9:47am UTC](https://forum.sensor.community/t/can-i-use-the-sensor-without-a-constant-wi-fi-connection/6833/7 "2025-06-10T09:47:54Z")
Hello,
you can find our solution at: [GitHub - FijnStofGroep/simm7000](https://github.com/FijnStofGroep/simm7000)
if you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.