Like smartphones, IoT communications going long distance
The world's newest mobile telecoms network went into operation this week, but it's not for smartphones. The network, built by South Korea's SK Telecom, is dedicated to gadgets that connect to the so-called internet of things.
Today, most of those devices communicate over Bluetooth or WiFi, which are low power but short range, or over conventional cellular, which has better coverage but is more expensive and consumes more power.
The Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) network built in South Korea is deployed over the unlicensed 900MHz spectrum, and is based on specifications from the LoRa Alliance.
SK Telecom has set up an IoT data plan much like smartphone contracts. The cheapest plan is priced at 350 Korean Won (US$0.30) for 100KB of data transfers, and it is targeted at metering and monitoring services. The most expensive plan is targeted at real-time monitoring, and is priced at 2,000 Korean Won (US$1.75) for 100MB of data.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here