---
title: Will Verizon's M2M Solutions Power Cellular IoT? | Blog | Link Labs
description: Verizon has the most LTE coverage, which means they have the largest LTE-M network available. Will they take over the cellular IoT space?
---

[Asset Tracking & Monitoring Solutions Blog | Link Labs ](https://www.link-labs.com/blog)

# [Will Verizon's M2M Solutions Power Cellular IoT? | Blog | Link Labs](https://www.link-labs.com/blog/verizon-m2m)

 Written by [Jennifer Halstead](https://www.link-labs.com/blog/author/jennifer-halstead) | Jan 3, 2018 5:45:00 PM

The debate on what kind of technology is best suited for very large area low-power wide-area networks is frequently discussed in the IoT community. Companies like Sigfox, Ingenu, and the LoRa Alliance see unlicensed LPWAN as a viable option, and others—like us at Link Labs—believe cellular carriers are the best solution.

There are a few reasons for this:

1. **Cellular networks like Verizon have evolved to offer highly power-efficient technology. **[LTE-M (or LTE Cat M-1)](https://www.link-labs.com/blog/lte-iot-technologies) was created (and standardized by 3GPP) to make devices that operate on cellular carrier networks less expensive and more power efficient.
2. **Cellular carriers can easily deploy an IoT network. **Because cellular carriers like Verizon already have such far-reaching LTE networks, they need only to load new software on their base stations to enable M2M solutions to work. This makes cellular companies ideal candidates for adding low-power wide area applications on their networks.
3. **Cellular carriers are experts at device management, making it easier to deploy an M2M solution through a carrier.** Cellular companies have all the routers, gateways, and other systems in place that are needed to deploy millions of devices on the same network—which gives you a leg up if you decide to deploy your M2M system through a cellular carrier.

There are a few drawbacks to cellular IoT, as compared to alternate low power, wide-area networks like [Symphony Link](https://www.link-labs.com/symphony). For example, LTE-M requires a data plan for each device—so if you deploy tens of thousands of devices in an area, it may be more cost effective to deploy using a low power wide-area system like Symphony Link. Additionally, if you have battery-constrained devices, LTE-M draws more power than a system like Symphony Link would.

LTE-M has grown rapidly, and undoubtedly, Verizon has become the leader in the cellular M2M space.

### But will Verizon's M2M solutions power cellular IoT?

**This is a question we’re asked frequently—but the answer isn’t a simple yes or no.**

In fact, we believe any number of cellular carriers—from Verizon, to AT&T, to Sprint, and others—all have opportunities to make headway in the M2M space, and we expect any one of these cellular carriers could own a great deal of cellular IoT market share in the coming years.

That said, Verizon does have the most LTE coverage in the U.S.—and in order to do LTE-M, you need LTE coverage. This alone gives Verizon a big leg-up to becoming the leader in the LTE-M space. Additionally, Verizon offers customers complete IoT solutions for a number of applications around IoT telematics, cold chain monitoring, fleet tracking, smart city connectivity, and more.

Furthermore, Verizon has put in a great deal of work to be on the cutting edge of cellular IoT with innovations like [ThingSpace](http://www.verizonenterprise.com/products/internet-of-things/thingspace/)—an IoT device management platform that automates some M2M managerial tasks including device activation, deactivation, and suspension. (Note: You are not required to use ThingSpace if you deploy with one of Verizon’s M2M plans. Here at Link Labs, customers using the LL-LTE-M certified module use [Conductor](https://www.link-labs.com/conductor-automated-connectivity-and-data-management-platform), our data management platform, to manage devices.)

**For all these reasons, we selected Verizon as our first partner for the LL-LTE-M-VZN-S pre-certified module. **

Our module is [the world's first end-device certified LTE Cat-M1](https://www.link-labs.com/news/link-labs-certifies-internet-things-lte-category-m1-end-device-verizons-4g-lte-network), and it is pre-provisioned on the Verizon network. Because Verizon’s off-the-shelf M2M applications are expensive and often require additional customization, it’s often much more cost-effective and straightforward to design a pre-certified module into an application.

Best of all, using the LL-LTE-M-VZN-S module, you can pilot a solution in *under a day*. If you have more questions about LTE-M and how it compares to LPWA—and which use cases make sense for which technology—check out the webinar below.

<https://www.link-labs.com/webinar-lpwa-in-an-lte-cat-m1-and-nb-iot-world>

 

[View full post](https://www.link-labs.com/blog/verizon-m2m)

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