Mobile Networks for IoT

This post lists some of the wireless networks that can support IoT and links to additional resources. The list is not exhaustive.

Legacy Cellular (may be shut down)

• 2G GSM quad-band

• 3G UMTS / HSDPA

Current Cellular

• 4G LTE CAT-M1

Future Cellular

• 5G (devices sending 10's Gigabytes/month)

Cellular IoT Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN)

• NB-IoT (LTE Cat NB1 & LTE Cat NB2; 250 kbits/s downlink uplink; indoor coverage, low cost, long battery life, and high connection density)

• LTE-M (1 Mbit/s)

Unregulated Band LPWAN - Optimized for Many Devices Sending Small Amounts of Data per Month (0.1 KB to 1 MB), listed lowest data rate to highest

• Sigfox - 0.1 kbps

• LoRa/LoRaWAN™ (low bit rate, super low power) - 9.6 kbps/0.3 kbps

• Z-Wave - 9.6 kbps & 40 kbps

• DASH7 (multi-year battery life, range of up to 2 km, low latency for connecting with moving things, a very small open source protocol stack, AES 128-bit shared key encryption support) - 9.6 kbps &166 kbps

• ANT+ - 20kbps to 60 kbps

• ZigBee - 256 kbps

• WirelessHART

• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) - 125 kbit/s,1 Mbit/s, 2 Mbit/s

• 6LoWPAN/Thread - IPv6 over LPWAN / protocol over 6LoWPAN (IEEE 802.15.4 - Zigbee,[2] ISA100.11a,[3] WirelessHART, MiWi, 6LoWPAN, Thread and SNAP sit on 802.15.4 as well) - 256 kbps?

New Unregulated Spectrum

• Sony's Low-Power Wide Area [link][link]

References

• GSM / 3G / 4G (LTE) - Which One to Choose for Your IoT Project? @ [link]

• 3GPP Narrowband Cellular Standards (LTE Cat 1, LTE-M, NB-IoT, EC-GSM-IoT) @ [link]

• Wireless Carriers and Mobile Network Operators @ [link]

• Network Coverage @ [link]

• NB-IoT @ [link]

• LPWAN @ [link]

• 6LoWPAN @ [link]

• 6LoWPAN demystified @ [link]

• What exactly is the "Internet of Things"? @ [link]

• Overview LP-WAN @ [link]

• Z-Wave @ [link]

• DASH7 @ [link]

• ZigBee @ [link]

• ANT+ @ [link]

• WirelessHART @ [link]

• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) @ [link]

• IEEE 802.15.4 @ [link]