Power Efficiency: Is my hardware connected to a consistent and reliable power source? Or is it off-grid and connected to solar or battery? How long must the device last on battery power?.

Communication Range: How close to a provider’s gateway does my device have to be? Are there indoor vs outdoor (or line-of-sight) considerations I need to be aware of?.

Let’s shift our focus of analysis to specific deployment-related considerations and see how each connectivity option satisfies common requirements such as: With this breadth of options we can find ourselves paralyzed by too many options with no clear path forward for our use case. Since every IoT application has its own unique requirements, let’s step through common connectivity options at a high level, outline pros and cons, and see which option (or combination thereof) is right for your project. In addition, outdoor and mobile applications may obviate the ability to use more common connectivity methods like Wi-Fi or Ethernet. But what happens when power is lost? If your IoT solution is key to a critical system like HVAC, fire suppression, or security, you may need a connectivity option separate from the building’s infrastructure. For example, in an office setting, Wi-Fi is often the default choice due to its low cost and broad availability.

What was once an obvious choice may now be more nuanced. From modern cellular protocols like NB-IoT and LTE-M, to other LPWAN options like LoRa, to Wi-Fi and Ethernet and the venerable BLE, options are as plentiful as they are confusing. Granted, “spoiled” is a positive spin on the situation, as others may also classify it as “overwhelming”. When it comes to connectivity, we IoT developers are spoiled by a virtual cornucopia of networking options.

Wifi vs bluetooth vs xbee