Selecting the right type of network for your IoT device could be essential for the success of your device. Below we have gathered some of the key characteristics of the most used IoT networks. For more information on how Cobira can support your use case please contact us at sales@cobira.co.
LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) is a low-power, wide area networking protocol built on top of the LoRa radio modulation technique. It wirelessly connects devices to the internet and manages communication between end-node devices and LoRaWan network gateways. The gateways are then often connected to the internet through a cellular network.
NB-IoT (NarrowBand-Internet of Things) is a standards-based low power wide area (LPWA) technology developed to enable a wide range of new IoT devices and services. NB-IoT significantly improves the power consumption of user devices, system capacity and spectrum efficiency, especially in deep coverage. NB-IoT is well suited for devices that are stationary, but has limits when it comes to mobility.
LTE Cat M1 (LTE Category M1) is a reduced version of the LTE Cat 1, for devices where battery lift is essential. With this technology battery life can extend up to 10 years. Compared to NB-IoT, CAT-M1 can be used for mobile solutions as the technology supports cell handover at high speeds.
LTE Cat 1 (LTE Category 1) is a medium speed LTE standard designed for more feature-rich IoT applications that require higher data speeds. LTE Cat 1 is the lowest cost LTE category that still has the required speeds to support data streaming and full mobility.
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is sometimes referred to as 4G LTE. It's a standard for wireless data transmission that allows you to download your favorite music, websites, and video really fast—much faster than you could with the previous technology, 3G.
3G is the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology. It is an upgrade for 2.5G GPRS and 2.75G EDGE networks, for faster data transfer. ... This ensures it can be applied to wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV technologies.
2G (or 2-G) is short for second-generation cellular network. ... Digitally encrypted phone conversations, at least between the mobile phone and the cellular base station but not necessarily in the rest of the network. Significantly more efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum which enables more users per frequency band.
The table below shows in more detail the differences between the LPWAN standards
| LPWAN standards | LTE Cat 1 | LTE-M | NB-IoT | |||
| LTE Cat 0 | LTE Cat M1 | LTE Cat M2 | LTE Cat NB1 | LTE Cat NB2 | ||
| Downlink Peak Rate | 10 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | ~4 Mbit/s | 26 kbit/s | 127 kbit/s |
| Uplink Peak Rate | 5 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | ~7 Mbit/s | 66 kbit/s (multi-tone) | 159 kbit/s |
| 16.9 kbit/s (single-tone) | ||||||
| Latency | 50–100 ms | not deployed | 10–15 ms | 1.6–10 s | ||
| Number of Antennas | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Duplex Mode | Full Duplex | Full or Half Duplex | Full or Half Duplex | Full or Half Duplex | Half Duplex | Half Duplex |
| Device Receive Bandwidth | 1.4–20 MHz | 1.4–20 MHz | 1.4 MHz | 5 MHz | 180 kHz | 180 kHz |