eMTC vs. NB-IoT: An Empirical Comparison of Uplink Performance

The widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) has stimulated the development of numerous networking solutions. However, selecting the best communication protocol may be challenging for developers and integrators. This work compares eMTC (LTE-CatM1) and NB-IoT (LTE-CatNB1), two cellular IoT technologies for low-power and long-range communication. The selected key performance indicators for the comparison are end-to-end latency, packet loss and energy consumption. The metrics are evaluated in different scenarios, characterized by degrading received signal strength (−73 dBm, −93 dBm, and −113 dBM), as well as at different times of the day (busy-hour or off-peak) to take into account the impact of legacy LTE traffic on such technologies. Results show that eMTC demonstrates superior latency performance, while NB-IoT exhibits admirable energy efficiency and coverage enhancement. Both technologies are affected by RSSI degradation, whereas existing LTE traffic affects only the NB-IoT standard. These findings are crucial for integrators aiming to develop Cellular IoT-based solutions, highlighting the significantly different performances and characteristics of eMTC and NB-IoT, despite their underlying similarity.