LoRaWAN vs WiFi
Sourced tradeoffs for range, battery life, and bandwidth — then match ParticlIO hardware to the radio you choose.
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Feature Comparison
| Feature | LoRaWAN | WiFi |
|---|---|---|
| Range | Multi-km rural / deep indoor (conditions-dependent; often cited up to ~15 km LOS) | Typically tens of meters indoors; AP density extends coverage |
| Battery life (Class A / duty-cycled) | Multi-year designs common when uplinks are sparse (often marketed as 10+ years) | Hours to months for always-connected Wi‑Fi IoT |
| Data rate | Roughly 0.3–50 kbps depending on SF / bandwidth | Mbps–Gbps class (amendment and channel dependent; Wi‑Fi 6 peaks much higher) |
| Latency | Seconds-class for Class A receive windows | Milliseconds-class on a healthy LAN |
| Security | AES-128 session crypto (LoRaWAN) | WPA2/WPA3 enterprise options |
| Devices per radio cell | Thousands of sparse sensors per gateway (duty-cycle limited) | Tens–hundreds of active clients per AP under load |
Sources
- LoRa Alliance — What is LoRaWAN — accessed 2026-09-25Protocol overview; regional parameters and typical LPWAN use cases.
- Semtech — LoRa technology overview — accessed 2026-09-25PHY link-budget guidance; rural multi-km ranges are conditions-dependent.
- IEEE 802.11 working group — accessed 2026-09-25WLAN PHY/MAC family; peak rates depend on amendment and channel width.
- Wi-Fi Alliance — accessed 2026-09-25
Range, battery, and rate figures are typical published or field values under stated conditions — confirm for your site survey and SKU. Do not cite hub-card blurbs without these sources.
Best Use Cases
- Agriculture & farming sensors
- Utility metering (water, gas, electric)
- Asset tracking over large areas
- Environmental monitoring
- Smart city infrastructure
- Video surveillance
- Real-time control systems
- High-bandwidth applications
- Indoor location services
- Office/building automation
Frequently Asked Questions
LoRaWAN hardware, standard products, and custom programs
Choose LoRaWAN for multi-year battery sensors, kilometer-scale coverage, and sparse uplinks. Choose Wi‑Fi for high bandwidth, low latency, or video and control on an existing enterprise WLAN. See the sourced table on this page.
No. Multi-kilometer figures are line-of-sight / rural conditions from LoRa link-budget guidance. Confirm with a site survey for your band, antenna, and SF.
No. You operate the network server or WLAN. We design and build the LoRaWAN hardware endpoints and gateways you brand.
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