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Swarm vs. Legacy Satellite Providers: Choosing the best IoT satellite solution for your needs

October 7, 2021

Remote connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT) devices is a complex challenge without a one-size-fits-all solution. For IoT devices operating in areas outside of cell or WiFi coverage, companies have long turned to satellite networks. Legacy satellite companies have been around for decades and have been the standard for remote device connectivity.

Over the past few years, however, newer “Smallsat IoT” companies have emerged to challenge the incumbents by providing much lower cost connectivity for IoT applications that only need to transmit relatively small volumes of data.

Over the past few years, newer “Smallsat IoT” companies have emerged to challenge the incumbents by providing much lower cost connectivity for IoT applications that only need to transmit relatively small volumes of data.

To help you choose the right solution for your use case, we compare Swarm and the three legacy satellite companies with an IoT connectivity offering – Iridium, Orbcomm, and Globalstar – against various criteria: Some metrics, such as data volume, coverage, and price, we chose because they may immediately eliminate certain solutions for your needs. Others, such as power and direction of data flow, we examine as secondary considerations to help you choose the optimal provider.

(Note: newer large satellite systems, such as SpaceX’s Starlink, are working to provide more accessible broadband Internet access in remote areas and are not well suited for IoT applications, so they are not included in this comparison.)

At a glance: Iridium, Orbcomm, Globalstar, and Swarm

Table 1 and Figure 1 (below) compare the low-bandwidth offerings of Iridium, Orbcomm, and Globalstar, as well as Swarm.

A table showing the comparison of four satellite connectivity providers by select criteria
Table 1: A comparison of four satellite connectivity providers by select criteria.

 Hardware pricing shown is for comparable embedded, low-bandwidth IoT modems without volume discounts as of October 2021. Data pricing shown is for roughly 150kB of data per month. For Iridium, Orbcomm, and Globalstar, hardware costs, data pricing, and activation fees may vary based on modem type, data plan, and reseller.

A graph showing the average price per kilobyte (at 150kB per device per month)
Fig. 1: Average price per kilobyte (at 150kB per device per month).

A closer look

Iridium, Orbcomm, and Globalstar

Legacy satellite providers focus primarily on service offerings such as voice and broadband internet, although a select group – Iridium, Orbcomm, and Globalstar – also offer low-bandwidth solutions that are more targeted to IoT use cases.

These companies rely on constellations of large, expensive satellites to operate their networks. The CapEx required to build, launch, and maintain this infrastructure results in high user prices across the board, even for IoT-specific offerings.

Legacy satellite providers also typically rely on an ecosystem of third-party resellers. Customers have to navigate complex airtime (data) rates, setup and connection fees, and complicated pricing tiers that can make it difficult for companies to estimate up front what the actual cost for their service will be.

Swarm

By contrast, companies like Swarm have emerged over the past few years, focused exclusively on providing low-bandwidth connectivity to IoT devices at much lower cost, while maintaining global coverage. For low-bandwidth IoT applications that have some latency tolerance, Swarm is a way to save substantial amounts of money without compromising on coverage.

Swarm’s uniquely small satellites and vertically-integrated manufacturing enable favorable economics for the company that allow it to charge significantly lower prices than legacy satellite providers (4-20x less, on average). Swarm sells directly to customers, provides their own integration support, and uses a flat per-device hardware and data pricing model with no additional fees.

Choosing the right satellite IoT solution

There is no shortage of connectivity options to support the different needs and priorities of various IoT applications. If your devices are deployed in locations outside of cell or WiFi coverage, a satellite network is your best bet for reliable connectivity in remote areas.

Choosing the right satellite IoT provider comes down to weighing two primary factors:

1) How much data do you need to send (bandwidth) and how often (latency)?
2) How much can you afford to pay for data transfer?

If your use case requires sending over roughly 200 Bytes of data at once (images, for example) or if you need to send data in near-real time (such as aviation telematics), a legacy provider will be required (though keep an eye on newer entrants who will be able to provide the same bandwidth and low latencies without the hassle that many associate with legacy satcom).

If your application is more aligned with 1-4x/hour, <200 byte transmissions, then an ultra-low cost solution like Swarm is feasible. Many companies, in fact, find that they are able to reduce how much data their devices send – or how often – to take advantage of significantly lower cost offerings.

Choosing the right satellite IoT provider comes down to two primary factors: How much data do you need to send and how often; and how much can you afford to pay for data transfer?

The future of satellite IoT connectivity

With 41 billion IoT devices expected to come online by 2027, it is likely that we will continue to see innovation in existing connectivity options, and entirely new ones arise. Understanding the tradeoffs of some of the most common satellite IoT connectivity providers will help you find the right option for your use case today, and know what to keep an eye on as new technologies emerge.


If you’d like to learn more about the many different connectivity options for IoT – both satellite and terrestrial – check out our post here on choosing the right solution for your use case.

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