While there is some commonality between the types of long-range communication technologies, they also are targeting different use cases and segments. The IoT architect should choose wisely which long-range system they intend to adopt. Like other components of the IoT system, the LPWAN is difficult to change once deployed. Considerations in picking the correct LPWAN include:
- What data rate does the IoT deployment need to use?
- Can the solution scale with the same LPWAN across regions? Is there proper coverage or does it need to be built?
- What range of transmission is appropriate?
- Is there any latency requirement for this IoT solution? Can the solution work with very high (multiple seconds) latencies?
- Are the IoT endpoints battery powered and what is the cost of servicing them?
- What are the cost constraints of the endpoints?