Cat-1 has seen tremendous development over the past couple of years and is likely familiar to those in the IoT industry. However, how does it compare to NB-IoT?

What is Cat-1?

Cat-1 is a network standard designed for IoT devices requiring medium to low bandwidth. It is part of the 3GPP Release 8 standard, making it an older but still current technology. It offers upload speeds of 5 Mbps, download speeds of 10 Mbps, and latency of around 50 to 100 milliseconds.

Cat-1 is widely used in wearable devices, point-of-sale terminals, ATMs, kiosks, video surveillance, connected healthcare, consumer electronics, and some vehicle telematics data. It also supports shared mobility applications like bike and scooter rentals and complex IoT devices such as digital signage and automated drone deliveries.

What is NB-IoT?

NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) is a standard developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as part of the LTE cellular communication standard in Release 13. It is a low-power, wide-area network (LPWAN) technology operating on licensed spectrum, designed for IoT devices with low bandwidth requirements.

Compared to other existing cellular standards, NB-IoT is cost-effective, offers better indoor coverage, consumes less power, and thus has a longer battery life. It provides upload speeds of 66 kbps and download speeds of 26 kbps in half-duplex mode, meaning data can flow in only one direction at a time. It has latency ranging from 1.6 to 10 seconds. NB-IoT operates within a very narrow bandwidth (180 kHz) and can be deployed in the guard bands of LTE networks, the unused portions of the spectrum between channels. Therefore, it is best suited for simple IoT devices that require small, intermittent data transmissions where latency is not critical.

Cellular technology provides remote support and strong signal penetration, making it suitable for long-distance and indoor or underground use. However, it cannot handle handovers between cell towers, so it is only suitable for fixed IoT applications.

NB-IoT use cases include smart gas, water, and electricity meters, smart city applications (e.g., smart streetlights and parking sensors), and other remote sensing applications that do not send frequent or large amounts of data. This includes HVAC control, industrial monitors, and agricultural sensors that monitor irrigation systems and detect leaks.

Current Status of These IoT Transmission Protocols

• Although NB-IoT’s low power consumption is its greatest advantage, it is an emerging technology with limited global coverage.
• In contrast, Cat-1 is already available and widely supported by operators worldwide. It is cost-effective and popular in IoT deployments, with prices comparable to NB-IoT modules. While it does consume more power than NB-IoT, its coverage and transmission rates are significantly better.