Heyya all, pretty new tutorial out all on LTE Cat-M1 vs NB-IoT - 4G Connectivity Comparison with IoT Devices
This tutorial is focusing on the differences between LTE CAT M1 network and the NB-IoT network. When it comes to IoT they often run on Narrow Band Cellular Standards and these two are the most common currently. Narrow Band Cellular Standards are low power Wide area network radio technology. Cat-M1 and NB-IoT are quite similar but have some key differences which make each network better suited to particular applications see below for exactly what I mean.
If you want an asset tracker for rental vehicles, equipment, cold chain process (that is making sure certain products stay refrigerated throughout processing) or any other kind of tracking of assets that are constantly moving then LTE Cat M1 is the way to go. Particularly if higher volumes of transmitted tracking data are desired. For most of my purposes this is the network I use, the faster data transmission rate is too good to miss.
If the IoT application is more focused on sensor monitoring in stationary locations be it for agricultural purposes, gas monitoring or weather stations NB-IoT is the way to go. Data for these can be very simple and small, the device will be slightly more energy efficient meaning you need to service the set-up less and there is no concern of the device dropping out as there will be no cell tower handovers. The technology to connect to this technology is also cheaper so when hundreds to thousands of IoT devices are needed on stationary assets which report infrequently this is the network to use.
