Jola are working in partnership with Vodafone to deliver our LP-WAN proposition.

Depending on the country (see Tables 3.1 & 3.2 below) Jola’s LP-WAN SIMs give access to:

·       NB-IoT (and 2G)

·       LTE-M (and 2G)

·       Both NB-IoT and LTE-M (and 2G)

NB – It may be necessary to select a module that can connect using both NB-IoT and 2G or LTE-M and 2G (or even NB-IoT, LTE-M and 2G). This is because LP-WAN network coverage is not ubiquitous in any country (but is growing quickly). Please see section 3 below for more information.

As the tables below explain, in the UK the Jola SIMs provide access to NB-IoT and 2G. However, a very limited number of UK cell towers have now also been enabled for LTE-M (Cat-M1) in advance of an official launch of national (but again, not ubiquitous) LTE-M coverage, expected Q3/Q4 2022.

Jola Partners ordering Vodafone LP-WAN SIMs should have a good understanding of what they need and the performance and characteristics of these Radio Access Technologies. See below for a very short summary:

·       Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a standards-based, low power wide area (LPWA) technology developed to enable a wide range of new IoT devices and services. NB-IoT significantly improves the power consumption of user devices, system capacity and spectrum efficiency, especially in deep coverage.

·       LTE-M (LTE-MTC [Machine Type Communication]), which includes eMTC (enhanced Machine Type Communication), is a type of low power wide area network (LPWAN) radio technology standard developed by 3GPP to enable a wide range of cellular devices and services (specifically, for machine-to-machine and Internet of Things applications). The specification for eMTC (LTE Cat-M1) was frozen in 3GPP Release 13.

Table 1.0: A comparison of the typical characteristics of NB-IoT vs LTE-M applications

There will be exceptions to these principles but in many cases:

·       LTE-M is a 2G replacement for devices that are mobile.

·       NB-IoT is 2G replacement for static devices.

2. Examples of NB-IoT Opportunities

·       LP-WAN coverage is not ubiquitous in any country.  Please see tables 3.1 and 3.2 below for details of the current geographic / population coverage percentages.

·       In some parts of East England (Norfolk, Suffolk and some of Kent) there is not yet any NB-IoT coverage at all.

·       Connection using 2G will reduce battery life faster battery than when connected over NB-IoT.

·       Modules that support both NB-IoT / LTE-M and 2G will draw more power than modules that only have access to either NB-IoT or LTE-M, even if they exclusively connect to LP-WAN. The difference in battery consumption will depend on the module and the specific config used.

·       Because of the above customers have to decide if they are going to have a single SKU solution (be that LP-WAN module only or LP-WAN and 2G) or have 2 options and choose the device/module based on whether LP-WAN is available or not at each site.

·       Vodafone have not released an availability checker yet but one is being developed.

·       If it is important to understand the likely availability of NB-IoT at a specific location during a pilot phase, we can provide this upon request (please provide co-ordinates or postcode).

·       It is important to perform proof-of-concept testing to prove that the technology works with the module / device / application that the customer is using. 

·       The Vodafone lab in Newbury is available to Jola Partners.  Please speak to your Jola Account Manager if you are interested in using this facility to test any of the following:

o   NB-IoT Device – Network Integration

o   E2E testing: Device – Network – Internet/User Applications

o   Power Consumption Testing

o   Extended Coverage Testing (ECL0 / ECL1 / ECL2)

o   NB-IoT Module Certification

·       Jola does have a stock of SIM cards, but it is expected that SIMs will need to be ordered in for sizeable deployments.  The lead time for SIMs is normally between 4-6 weeks.

Most LP-WAN solutions do not require SMS however both MO (Mobile Originated) and MT (Mobile Terminated) SMS is available.

This service is not ‘public SMS’, (messages cannot be sent or received from a mobile phone etc). Until SMS functionality is built into Mobile Manager, if testing SMS is required, please speak to your Jola Account Manager who will be able to arrange this. 

The device must be connected using 2G to receive or send SMS and so does mean that battery life is compromised if SMS is required.

The SMS is a ‘notify and deliver’ service, meaning the network will notify the device there is an SMS waiting. SS7 signalling is the means by which the module will switch to 2G to receive SMS. It is essential to ensure the module will both receive and react accordingly to SS7 signals whilst connected to non-2G bearer services.  We recommend liaising with the module supplier and also performing tests to establish that SMS works as per the customer’s requirements.

o   Standard triple cut SIM = £1.60

o   Robust SIM (standard / micro / nano) = £4.25

o   Chip (embedded) SIMs = available upon request (POA)

If this is something that you might be interested in, please talk to your Jola Account Manager about potentially amortising the cost of the SIM cards. 

Table 2.0 - A comparison of the characteristics of the standard plastic vs robust plastic SIM cards

o   Tariff and overage charges are below (NB – the overage rates vary based on the tariff that a SIM is on). 

·       SMS Pricing
o   MO - (Mobile Originating) = £0.04 per SMS
o   MT - (Mobile Terminating) = £0.02 per SMS

·       Table 3.1: NB-IoT coverage

·       Table 3.2: LTE-M coverage