Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
eWEEK.com
Search
eWEEK.com
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Networking

    T-Mobile Launches Narrowband IoT Communications Nationwide

    By
    WAYNE RASH
    -
    July 23, 2018
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      narrowband IoT

      As part of its run-up to nationwide 5G communications, T-Mobile has launched narrowband IoT, a series of bands intended specifically for sensors and other devices that communicate only small amounts of data at any one time, but which need a dedicated band in which to do it. To do this, T-Mobile has utilized the guard bands, which are narrow slices of frequencies next to their LTE bands used for cellular communications, as a way to achieve spectrum efficiency.

      “Sensors don’t need to communicate that often and they only transmit a few bytes at a time,” said Balaji Sridharan, T-Mobile’s vice president of IoT (internet of things) and M2M (machine to machine). He said Qualcomm and others are already making the modems, modules and chips for narrowband IoT (NB IoT), and device makers are starting the process of getting them certified by the Federal Communications Commission. The IoT communications take place in the guard bands of LTE bands 2,4 and 12, which are already in use by T-Mobile.

      The bandwidth devoted to IoT communications is about 200KHz, which is a tiny fraction of the bandwidth used by a cellular device. But because it’s devoted to IoT, the devices can use low power and low data rates, which means their batteries can last for years. Sridharan said he expects most of the use on these bands to be things like environmental sensors and asset tracking devices, although there is a vast number of types of devices that could use the T-Mobile network.

      One type of device that won’t be on the IoT network is video. Sridharan said the bandwidth requirements for video are too high, and while there have been attempts to send compressed video using NB IoT, they weren’t commercially successful.

      However, he expects significant success for devices that are well-suited for the IoT network. “You’re talking in the billions of connections,” Sridharan said. “Essentially what narrowband allows you to do is connect every single device out there.”

      While the network is already up and running, currently there are very few devices able to take advantage of it. Sridharan said that will change in the next few months as devices are approved for use and then they’re incorporated into devices. Those devices are being made by Nokia and Ericsson, as well as by Qualcomm.

      The T-Mobile action to go live with narrowband IoT happened less than a year after the company announced its intent last fall. Its first commercial test took place in January, and it was operational nationwide in July. Sridharan said one reason T-Mobile could provision its IoT network so quickly is because it simply required a software update to all of its cells. The infrastructure was already in place.

      T-Mobile expects its NB IoT network to get a major share of device traffic for two reasons. First, it’s already running and device makers are already building products to run on the T-Mobile network, so when they’re needed, the network is there to work with them. The second reason is cost. T-Mobile’s current price for access to the IoT network is $6.00 per year. By comparison, Verizon’s plans are to charge about 10 times that much for its Cat-M devices. The T-Mobile price covers 12 megabytes per year.

      While device makers are still in the process of gaining FCC certification, T-Mobile said in a prepared statement that “several NB-IoT modules based on Qualcomm’s MDM9206 LTE IoT modem are certified for use on T-Mobile’s network.”

      The NB IoT field isn’t T-Mobile’s alone. AT&T is already working on provisioning its network for narrowband, but that move is still about six months from happening. Verizon hasn’t said when it plans to release narrowband communications for its network, although there’s speculation that it will happen in 2019.

      However, there’s already being work done with T-Mobile’s IoT network. San Mateo County, Calif., has just opened an innovation center with T-Mobile’s NB IoT as one of the launch projects. The county plans to use the IoT network along with products and services from other vendors in a range of research activities that should eventually become ongoing activities. Those projects include environmental monitoring, water management, asset tracking, predictive waste collection and even parking management.

      The NB IoT initiative is a major part of T-Mobile’s new push for business users that began while the company was working on its plans to merge with Sprint.

      “It goes back to the commercial promise we made where you’re able to connect billions of devices,” said Sridharan. “This is the way we’re going to do it.”

      “It’s very secure,” he added, “and it actually provides a great tool to lower the bar for experimentation. We’re working to get this in to the hands of the developer community.”

      Getting the developer community on board would be a big help for T-Mobile, but the fact that they’re first by many months and cheaper by a lot when the whole thing gets started may make the most difference.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      CHRIS PREIMESBERGER - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      CHRIS PREIMESBERGER - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      EWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      ZEUS KERRAVALA - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      WAYNE RASH - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Info

      © 2020 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×