What is LTE Cat NB2?

The 3GPP Release 14 has introduced an enhanced NB-IoT protocol and a new device category - NB2. The devices which are based on the 3GPP Release 14 enhanced NB-IoT protocol are called as LTE Cat NB2. This standard is an upgraded version of the LTE Cat NB1 standard.

Advantages of LTE Cat NB2 devices over LTE Cat NB1 are as follows:

• LTE Cat NB2 devices support OTDOA and E-CID positioning methods for higher location accuracy.
• The 3GPP Release 14 standard enhanced the NB2 devices with a new 14 dBm low power class to allow the use of smaller batteries and small form factors. LTE Cat NB1 supports only 20 and 23 dBm.
• These devices support Multicast transmission mode.
• The LTE Cat NB2 devices have higher data rates in comparison to Cat NB1 devices. They can provide maximum data speeds of 127 kbps downlink and 159 kbps uplink.
• These devices support a multi-carrier mode with up to 15 non-anchor carriers, which can support up to 1,000,000 connected NB-IoT devices per square kilometer.
• The 3GPP Release 14 introduced five new FDD frequency bands for NB-IoT: 11, 21, 25, 31, and 70.