3 ms·

Netherlands gets first nationwide 'Internet of Things'

14 points by Sami_Lehtinen 10y ago

tremon 10y ago
Original press release: https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/the-netherlands-has-first-nationwide-lora-network-for-internet-of-things-.htm https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/the-netherlan... LoRa is an industry standard, backed by the LoRa alliance: https://www.lora-alliance.org/What-Is-LoRa/Technology https://www.lora-alliance.org/What-Is-LoRa/Technology
jacquesm 10y ago
What are the advantages of using something like this over installing your own gateways?
siscia 10y ago
Who else here on HN is working with LoRa? In my opinion it can be a very interesting business offering a global team of expert of the subject. Feel free to contact me on the address on my profile.
ilaksh 10y ago
Is this type of thing really that important now that we have stuff like the ESP8266 that is tiny, has WiFi, and has good power saving features like deep sleep?
- ozim 10y ago
  There was something about port of Rotterdam in the story. Good luck with installing wifi hotspots all over shipyard or close by rail switches. You also need access points not that far away for ESP8266 or cable + big antena. On the other hand WiFi spectrum is already crowded with around 20 networks at any time in cities with god knows how many clients connected to it.
kees99 10y ago
For some context about KPN (company doing this) and LoRa (wireless standard involved): - KPN has pretty much 100% country-wide 2G/3G coverage [1], so this is unlikely to be about long-reach aspect of LoRa; - Frequency licenses are extremely expensive [2] and hard to obtain; - KPN is silent about whether they use licensed or unlicensed spectrum for LoRa, apart from noting that frequency is "low" [3], while they didn't obtain any particularly low-freqency license recently [4] Chances are this is just a land-grab for 433Mhz. [EDIT 868Mhz] [1] http://www.sensorly.com/map/2G-3G/NL/Netherlands/KPN/gsm_20408 http://www.sensorly.com/map/2G-3G/NL/Netherlands/KPN/gsm_204... [2] https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2012/12/17/4g-auction-raises-usd5bn-for-dutch-coffers/ https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/... [3] https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/kpns-new-lora-network-to-boost-the-internet-of-things.htm https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/kpns-new-lora... [4] https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/kpn-obtains-highly-valuable-spectrum-dividend-outlook-adjusted.htm https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/kpn-obtains-h... EDIT: Yep, they are going unlicensed, according to the site weitzj has pointed out: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/wiki/LoRaWAN-Frequencies https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/wiki/LoRaWAN-Frequencies
weitzj 10y ago
Also a very interesting LoraWan related community project: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org https://www.thethingsnetwork.org

14 points by Sami_Lehtinen 10y ago

Original press release: https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/the-netherlands-has-first-nationwide-lora-network-for-internet-of-things-.htm https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/the-netherlan... LoRa is an industry standard, backed by the LoRa alliance: https://www.lora-alliance.org/What-Is-LoRa/Technology https://www.lora-alliance.org/What-Is-LoRa/Technology

jacquesm 10y ago

What are the advantages of using something like this over installing your own gateways?

siscia 10y ago

Who else here on HN is working with LoRa? In my opinion it can be a very interesting business offering a global team of expert of the subject. Feel free to contact me on the address on my profile.

ilaksh 10y ago

Is this type of thing really that important now that we have stuff like the ESP8266 that is tiny, has WiFi, and has good power saving features like deep sleep?

ozim 10y ago
There was something about port of Rotterdam in the story. Good luck with installing wifi hotspots all over shipyard or close by rail switches. You also need access points not that far away for ESP8266 or cable + big antena. On the other hand WiFi spectrum is already crowded with around 20 networks at any time in cities with god knows how many clients connected to it.

kees99 10y ago

For some context about KPN (company doing this) and LoRa (wireless standard involved): - KPN has pretty much 100% country-wide 2G/3G coverage [1], so this is unlikely to be about long-reach aspect of LoRa; - Frequency licenses are extremely expensive [2] and hard to obtain; - KPN is silent about whether they use licensed or unlicensed spectrum for LoRa, apart from noting that frequency is "low" [3], while they didn't obtain any particularly low-freqency license recently [4] Chances are this is just a land-grab for 433Mhz. [EDIT 868Mhz] [1] http://www.sensorly.com/map/2G-3G/NL/Netherlands/KPN/gsm_20408 http://www.sensorly.com/map/2G-3G/NL/Netherlands/KPN/gsm_204... [2] https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2012/12/17/4g-auction-raises-usd5bn-for-dutch-coffers/ https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/... [3] https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/kpns-new-lora-network-to-boost-the-internet-of-things.htm https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/kpns-new-lora... [4] https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/kpn-obtains-highly-valuable-spectrum-dividend-outlook-adjusted.htm https://corporate.kpn.com/press/press-releases/kpn-obtains-h... EDIT: Yep, they are going unlicensed, according to the site weitzj has pointed out: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/wiki/LoRaWAN-Frequencies https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/wiki/LoRaWAN-Frequencies

weitzj 10y ago

Also a very interesting LoraWan related community project: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org https://www.thethingsnetwork.org