Is LTE Cat NB2 supported by the carriers already?

[lorenz]

Recently I have come across a few NB-IoT modems (like the ublox SARA-N310 or the Quectel BG77) and they offer the LTE Cat NB2 which was defined in 3GPP release 14.

My questions:

• if I use a LTE Cat NB2 modem today in a location where a LTE Cat NB1 is working, will it also work?
• if I am starting to develop sensor applications for NB-IoT today, should I make sure to use a LTE Cat NB2 modem to be future proof, or will LTE Cat NB1 also work over the next 5 years?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

Kind Regards,
Lorenz

[Jan]

Hi @lorenz,

if I use a LTE Cat NB2 modem today in a location where a LTE Cat NB1 is working, will it also work?

The Sara N3 has a baseline of 3GPP 13, CAT NB1 and NB2 are supported.

SARA-N3 series

if I am starting to develop sensor applications for NB-IoT today, should I make sure to use a LTE Cat NB2 modem to be future proof, or will LTE Cat NB1 also work over the next 5 years?

You never know how long something is supported.

Since it’s inside the LTE specs, I assume all LTE related specs will be backwards compatible.
I assume the next 5-10 years it will be supported.

Best regards,
Jan