Which technologies do you consult on?

All of the major location, identification and IoT technologies: RTLS (UWB, BLE, Wi-Fi), RFID (passive, active and RAIN UHF), industrial IoT and sensors, GPS and GNSS, AGV and AMR robot fleets, and hybrid stacks that combine them. We recommend the right mix for each zone and use case, not a single technology.

Are you really vendor-neutral?

Yes. We do not sell hardware or a software platform of our own, and we take no resale commissions, so our technology and vendor recommendations serve your outcome rather than a product we need to move.

Do you work outside the UK?

We are UK-based and work across Europe and internationally, delivering in English, German and French. Engagements can be remote or on-site depending on the work.

What does a consulting engagement include?

Typically discovery and requirements, vendor-neutral technology selection, vendor evaluation and RFP support, ROI and business case, solution architecture, and an implementation roadmap. We scope each engagement to where you are.

Can you help after the decision is made?

Yes. We work across the full lifecycle - we can also deploy, integrate, and operate the system, so you can keep one independent team from business case through to live operation.

How do we get started?

Usually with a short call or a fixed-fee discovery to scope the problem, followed by a proposal with clear deliverables, timeline and fees. There is no obligation and no platform pitch.

Which is cheaper — public or private LoRaWAN?

Depends on device count and site geography. Public wins at low device counts in carrier coverage. Private wins above ~500–2,000 devices per site, or for deployments outside carrier coverage. We model both in stage 1.

Can a device roam between public and private networks?

Yes, in principle — the LoRa Alliance has standardised roaming. In practice, public-private roaming is not yet plug-and-play and requires careful key management. Most hybrid deployments segment devices by network rather than roaming them dynamically.

How reliable is Helium for enterprise use?

Helium's peer-operated model has uneven coverage and quality. It's improved since the Solana migration but isn't yet a stable enterprise-grade carrier in most regions. We treat it as a supplementary network, not primary.

Do private LoRaWAN networks require ongoing maintenance?

Yes — gateway firmware updates, network server patching, key management, monitoring. Typically a few engineer-days per year for a stable deployment. Managed-services arrangements with TTI or Actility handle this for enterprises that don't want in-house ownership.

COMPARAISON · CHOIX DU RÉSEAU IOT

Public vs privé LoRaWAN — ce qui correspond.

LoRaWAN deployments split into public networks (carrier-run, subscription-based, where coverage exists) and private networks (you run your own gateways and network server, full control).

The right choice is highly use-case-dependent, and most mature enterprises end up with a mix. This is the operator-level comparison that helps procurement decide.

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La différence d’architecture

Public LoRaWAN: you connect devices to a carrier's network (Orange / Bouygues / Objenious in France, KPN in Netherlands, Swisscom in Switzerland, Senet and Everynet in North America, Helium globally on a peer-operated model).

You pay per-device subscription; the carrier operates gateways and network server.

Private LoRaWAN: you operate your own gateways and network server (ChirpStack open source, The Things Industries, Actility ThingPark Enterprise) on your site. Devices connect only to your network. Capex up-front, no subscription, full control.

Couverture — le facteur décisif

Public LoRaWAN coverage is excellent across most of Europe (carrier-run networks cover major countries comprehensively), patchy in North America (Senet, Everynet, Helium fill in but coverage is uneven), and limited in much of Asia, Latin America and Africa.

For deployments concentrated within carrier coverage, public is the fastest path to scale. For deployments spread across patchy or uncovered regions, private (or hybrid) is the only practical option.

Économie des coûts — qui l’emporte ?

Public: per-device subscription, typically 1–5 Euros per device per year for low-payload sensors, more for trackers. No upfront infrastructure capex.

Private: gateway capex (1,000–3,000 Euros each, you need 1–5 per site depending on size), network-server capex or licence (ChirpStack free, TTI / Actility commercial), operations overhead.

Breakeven happens around 500–2,000 devices per site, depending on density and gateway choice. Above that, private is usually cheaper TCO.

Sécurité et contrôle

Both use AES-128 encryption end-to-end. The security difference is operational. Public: traffic transits the carrier's network server; key management is shared. Private: you control the entire path, including device provisioning, network keys and routing.

For defence, critical infrastructure, regulated industries (pharma, financial-services field equipment, oil & gas) and sensitive corporate use cases, private is usually required for governance reasons even when public coverage exists.

Paysage des fournisseurs et des plateformes

Public carriers: Orange Business / Objenious, Bouygues Telecom, KPN, Swisscom, Telekom Austria, Senet, Everynet, Helium (peer-operated).

Private network servers: ChirpStack (open source, dominant for self-managed), The Things Stack (TTI commercial + community), Actility ThingPark Enterprise (carrier-grade for large private deployments), AWS IoT Core (with LoRaWAN integration), Azure IoT Central.

Gateways: Kerlink, Multitech, Tektelic, Cisco, MikroTik — most work with both public and private. Devices: thousands of LoRaWAN-conformant sensors and trackers.

L’hybride est de plus en plus courant

Many enterprises run both. Public LoRaWAN for assets that move across regions (returnable containers, livestock, mobile equipment) where carrier coverage exists. Private LoRaWAN for sensitive in-site applications (factory sensors, hospital staff, military / defence equipment).

Hybrid stacks use roaming standards to hand devices between networks. We design the network architecture in stage 1 — see /insights/lorawan-explained for the deeper technology treatment.

FAQ

Questions fréquemment posées

Lequel est le moins cher — le LoRaWAN public ou privé ?

Cela dépend du nombre d’appareils et de la géographie du site. Le public gagne à faible nombre d’appareils dans la couverture des opérateurs.

Les privés gagnent au-dessus de ~500 à 2 000 appareils par site, ou pour les déploiements hors couverture opérateur. Nous modélisons les deux à l’étape 1.

Un appareil peut-il se déplacer entre réseaux publics et privés ?

Oui, en principe — l’Alliance LoRa a standardisé le roaming. En pratique, l’itinérance public-privé n’est pas encore plug and play et nécessite une gestion attentive des clés.

La plupart des déploiements hybrides segmentent les appareils par réseau plutôt que de les déplacer dynamiquement.

Quelle est la fiabilité de Helium pour une utilisation en entreprise ?

Le modèle exploité par les pairs d’Helium présente une couverture et une qualité inégales.

Cela s’est amélioré depuis la migration vers Solana mais n’est pas encore un opérateur stable de niveau entreprise dans la plupart des régions. Nous le considérons comme un réseau complémentaire, pas comme un réseau principal.

Les réseaux privés LoRaWAN nécessitent-ils une maintenance continue ?

Oui — mises à jour du firmware de la passerelle, patching du serveur réseau, gestion des clés, surveillance. En général, quelques jours d’ingénierie par an pour un déploiement stable.

Les accords de services gérés avec TTI ou Actility gèrent cela pour les entreprises qui ne souhaitent pas la propriété en interne.

Où se situent les IoT CELLULAIRES (LTE-M / NB- IoT) dans cette comparaison ?

Cellular IoT is the other LPWAN option. NB-IoT and LTE-M are carrier-managed, globally available where cellular exists, and integrate naturally with mobile devices.

LoRaWAN wins on cost-per-device at scale and on private-network capability; cellular wins on global mobility and standardised interoperability. Most enterprises run both for different use cases.

Dernière mise à jour : 26 mai 2026