If you're building an observational system — whether that's a heat‑stress network, air‑quality sensors or trackers on assets — you quickly run into the same question: how do I get the data back reliably, without draining batteries or blowing the budget?
Three of the most common options are LoRaWAN, NB‑IoT and 4G (cellular LTE). They all deliver IP‑reachable data, but they sit at different points on the spectrum from "ultra‑low power, tiny packets" to "high bandwidth, almost‑anywhere internet".
LoRaWAN: long‑range, low power, low data
LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) is a low‑power wide‑area network (LPWAN) protocol built around Semtech's LoRa radio modulation. It typically uses unlicensed ISM bands (868 MHz in Europe), so anyone can deploy gateways and nodes without buying spectrum.
LoRa modulation uses chirp spread spectrum: it encodes data into "chirps" whose frequency changes over time, making signals very resilient to noise at extremely low power. The LoRaWAN protocol then defines how end devices talk to gateways and a network server.
- Range: up to ~10–15 km in rural line‑of‑sight, a few kilometres in urban areas, hundreds of metres indoors.
- Data rate: a few hundred bit/s to a few kbit/s; ideal for small, infrequent payloads.
- Power: extremely low; many devices run 5–10+ years on a small battery with proper duty‑cycling.
- MeteoA uses: either KPN or The Things Network (TTN).
Best for: static sensors sending small packets infrequently, especially where you control the site — environmental monitoring, smart metering, agriculture, off‑grid stations.
NB‑IoT: deep coverage, low power, low data rate
NB‑IoT (Narrowband IoT) is a cellular LPWAN standard defined by 3GPP, running in licensed spectrum owned by mobile operators. It's designed specifically for massive numbers of low‑throughput devices that need strong coverage and long battery life.
- Coverage: similar to or better than 4G, with strong indoor and underground penetration thanks to a link budget around 160+ dB.
- Data rate: low (tens of kbit/s); suited to small, infrequent messages.
- Power: very low; power‑saving modes (PSM, eDRX) enable 5–10+ years battery life in many use cases.
- MeteoA uses: KPN as our main provider.
Best for: fixed devices in hard‑to‑reach places that send small amounts of data — utility meters, parking sensors, building monitoring, static environmental nodes where 4G is overkill but you don't want to run your own LoRaWAN.
4G (LTE): high bandwidth, higher power, full IP
4G LTE is the mainstream cellular technology used by smartphones and many industrial gateways. For MeteoA deployments, it's most often used via LTE Cat‑1 / Cat‑4 modems or specialised low‑power variants like LTE‑M. A 4G device connects to the cellular network using licensed spectrum, authenticates via a SIM or eSIM, and then has IP connectivity much like a phone.
- Coverage: wherever regular KPN 4G smartphones work; very good outdoors.
- Data rate: hundreds of kbit/s to many Mbit/s.
- Power: significantly higher than LoRaWAN or NB‑IoT — mains power is usually needed.
Best for: high-bandwidth, real-time data, control, images, video snippets, and remote firmware updates.
Side‑by‑side comparison
| Feature | LoRaWAN | NB-IoT | 4G (LTE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spectrum | Unlicensed ISM (868 MHz) | Licensed cellular narrowband | Licensed cellular broadband |
| Network | Public community (TTN or KPN) | Public operator networks (KPN) | Public operator networks (KPN/Vodafone) |
| Range | 10–15 km rural, km-scale urban | Similar to or better than LTE | Standard 4G coverage |
| Data rate | Very low (bps–kbps) | Low (up to tens of kbps) | Medium–high (hundreds kbps–Mbps) |
| Power | Excellent (5–10+ yr batteries) | Excellent (2–5+ yr batteries) | Often needs mains electricity |
| Cost | Low | Medium | Higher |