Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I need my own gateway?
Not necessarily. /IOTCONNECT™ supports public networks (Everynet). If coverage exists in your area, you can use public infrastructure without owning a gateway. Check the coverage map in the portal.
Q: Can one gateway support multiple devices?
Yes. A single LoRaWAN gateway can simultaneously serve hundreds to thousands of devices. The limiting factor is airtime (duty cycle) rather than device count.
Q: How often should devices send telemetry?
Depends on your use case. Most environmental sensors send every 5-15 minutes. Asset trackers may send every 1-5 minutes during movement. Consider battery life — more frequent = shorter battery.
Q: What are Device Classes A, B, and C?
Class A: Lowest power, device only listens briefly after each uplink. Class B: Scheduled listen slots via beacons. Class C: Always listening (mains-powered devices). Most battery sensors are Class A.
Q: What happens if the gateway goes offline?
Devices continue transmitting but data is lost (no buffering at the gateway level). When the gateway reconnects, new uplinks will flow again. Consider multiple gateways for redundancy in critical applications.
Q: Why is my device not joining?
The top 3 causes: 1) DevEUI byte order is reversed (LSB vs MSB), 2) AppKey doesn’t match what’s provisioned in the device, 3) Device and gateway are on different frequency bands.
Q: What’s the maximum range?
Up to 15km in rural open terrain, 2-5km in urban environments. Range depends on antenna height, obstacles, interference, and spreading factor. Higher SF = longer range but slower data rate.
Q: Can I send commands to a sleeping (Class A) device?
Yes, but the command is queued and only delivered when the device next sends an uplink. If the device sends every 15 minutes, you may wait up to 15 minutes for delivery.
Q: What’s the difference between Public and Private network?
Public: Uses shared Everynet infrastructure, no gateway needed, OTAA only, requires coverage. Private: Your own gateway, OTAA or ABP, full control, works anywhere you place the gateway.
Q: How do payload encoding and decoding work?
Devices send compact binary payloads (not JSON) to save power. /IOTCONNECT™ Lambda automatically decodes binary to JSON using the configured decoder for your template. You configure which bytes map to which attributes.
