Power availability may or may not be an important design constraint.

At the hardware level, cellular communication in IoT devices is built around an electronic component called a cellular communication module (CCM). The choice of CCM can increase or decrease the likelihood of your success.

Easily overlooked, antenna selection and placement can easily make a 3 - 10 dBm (or more) difference in signal strength.

IoT device operating systems (OSs) range from skeletal to high performance. OS choice affects development, ultimate device functionality, and maintenance.

Higher throughput requires more expensive hardware and more power. Throughput, of course, is limited by the CCM, but signal strength may also be a limiting factor.

Location information can be obtained from many CMMs. Dedicated GNSS receivers are inexpensive and reliable too. There are trade-offs to consider.

The more remotely devices are deployed, and the more complex the firmware/software, the greater the risks of not designing for over-the-air (OTA) updates.

Where do you need connectivity? Regionally, nationally, internationally?

SIMs, eSIMs, native-SIMs, multi-SIMs. Once deployed it may not be practical to change SIM selection decisions.

Cellular connectivity is fundamentally different to wired connectivity in terms of availability, reliability and throughput. The differences should influence many aspects of your device's hardware and software design.

If a given IoT device achieves good connectivity in and around your lab, but performs poorly in some other locales, you have likely failed to understand and design for regional variations in geography, topology and population density.

Singular IoT pioneered region categorization for cellular connectivity along with algorithms and techniques to get the best possible connectivity in each region.

Inefficient matching of your specific data transfer requirements to available Internet protocols may increase your data transfer volume by 90% or more. At Singular IoT we have even developed unique IoT device-to-server protocols to maximize connection availability and reduce excessive protocol traffic.

Without a thoughtful testing plan you can count on surprises from the field, and you will overlook opportunities for product improvement.