No connectivity technology wins for every use case. The right choice depends on four things: how often your device sends data, what coverage it needs, how long it must run on battery, and whether you want to own the network infrastructure or pay a carrier for access.
Get this decision wrong and you spend the next year working around it.
LoRaWAN: Long Range, Low Power, Small Payloads
LoRaWAN operates on unlicensed spectrum: 868 MHz in Europe, 915 MHz in North America. You pay nothing for spectrum access. Range depends on environment, but outdoor deployments regularly achieve 5-15 km line-of-sight with a single gateway.
The tradeoff is payload size. LoRaWAN packets are small, typically up to 250 bytes. That is enough for a temperature reading, a GPS coordinate, or a soil moisture level. It is not enough for a photo, a voice packet, or a firmware update without fragmentation.
Power consumption is extremely low. A sensor on two AA batteries can run for 5-10 years sending data every 15 minutes.
Best for: agriculture sensors, smart building monitoring, industrial asset tracking, environmental sensors, any application where devices are battery-powered and sending small, infrequent updates.
Not suited for: real-time applications, high data rate requirements, or anything that needs to receive large downlink payloads.
NB-IoT: Licensed Spectrum, Deep Penetration, Carrier-Managed
NB-IoT runs on licensed cellular spectrum managed by mobile network operators. You do not deploy infrastructure. You buy a SIM card and pay a monthly fee. Coverage is wherever the carrier’s network reaches, which in dense urban environments often exceeds LoRaWAN thanks to better building penetration.
Carrier availability is a real consideration. In the US, AT&T ended NB-IoT service in early 2025 and migrated customers to LTE-M. In the UK, Vodafone offers nationwide NB-IoT coverage. Before choosing NB-IoT, confirm your target markets have active network coverage from a carrier that is not sunsetting the technology.
Cost: roughly $0.50/month per device on most carrier plans.
Best for: urban utility meters, fixed environmental sensors, parking sensors.
Cellular (LTE-M, 4G, 5G): Real-Time, High Data, Moving Assets
Standard cellular connectivity offers the highest data rates and the lowest latency of the three. It works with a standard SIM. Devices can receive large payloads, stream data in real time, and work anywhere a carrier signal exists.
Cost: typically $1-10/month per device depending on data volume and carrier.
Best for: fleet tracking, cold chain monitoring, mobile assets, video-enabled devices, any application requiring real-time data.
Decision Table
| Factor | LoRaWAN | NB-IoT | LTE-M / 4G / 5G |
|---|---|---|---|
| Range | 5-15 km (outdoor) | Carrier-dependent | Carrier-dependent |
| Payload size | Up to ~250 bytes | Up to ~1,600 bytes | High (no practical limit) |
| Battery life | 5-10 years | 2-5 years | Months to 2 years |
| Data latency | Seconds to minutes | Seconds | Milliseconds to seconds |
| Monthly cost per device | Low or free (public TTN) | ~$0.50 | $1-10 |
| Real-time capability | No | Limited | Yes |
| Network ownership | Optional | Carrier | Carrier |
How TagoIO Connects to All Three
TagoIO supports all three connectivity types natively. For LoRaWAN, TagoIO integrates directly with TTN, ChirpStack, Actility, and other network servers. For NB-IoT and cellular devices, data arrives via MQTT or HTTP. For satellite connectivity, TagoIO supports integration with satellite modem providers that expose an MQTT or HTTP endpoint.
Your connectivity choice is a hardware and coverage decision, not a platform decision.
Full integration documentation is at https://docs.tago.io.
Next Steps
- Explore connectivity integrations in the docs: https://docs.tago.io
- Watch practical connectivity tutorials: https://tago.io/videos
- Browse Academy courses on device setup: https://tago.io/academy
