Verizon Launches NB-IoT Network for Fixed Use Cases

Verizon today announced the commercial availability of its narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) network, reaching nearly nationwide coverage two weeks after AT&T launched its own NB-IoT network. The operator’s starting price of $1 per month is more than double the starting rate of AT&T’s offering, but Verizon says the 50 kilobits of data included in that monthly access fee can be shared with other NB-IoT devices. Like AT&T, Verizon’s NB-IoT network runs on its LTE network and is suited for fixed applications requiring data rates below 100 Kb/s. Verizon says its NB-IoT network, which covers 92% of the U.S. population, is operating on a dedicated frequency of 180 kilohertz bandwidth that does not share spectrum with commercial smartphone traffic.