The short version
LoRaWAN — Long Range Wide Area Network — is an open radio standard for connecting battery-powered sensors to the internet. It was designed for the opposite of what your broadband does: instead of moving a lot of data over a short distance, it moves a very small amount of data over a long one, using almost no power.
Sensors in the field — a water meter, a bin, a river-level probe — wake up, send a short encrypted message, and go back to sleep. A gateway hears those messages and forwards them onward over its own internet connection. The gateway is the part that needs height, and that is where a rooftop comes in.
Four things that define LoRaWAN
Long range
A single well-sited rooftop gateway can reach sensors several kilometres away in open terrain, and across a dense town centre where buildings block other signals.
Very low power
Sensors send a handful of tiny messages an hour, so they run for years on one battery. That is what makes city-wide metering affordable to deploy.
Tiny data payloads
A typical message is a few dozen bytes — a meter reading, a water level, a temperature. No video, no voice, no browsing traffic.
Encrypted end to end
Payloads are encrypted at the sensor and decrypted by the application owner. The gateway simply relays them; it cannot read what passes through.
What a rooftop gateway actually is
The unit is roughly the size of a small shoebox with a slim antenna, mounted on a chimney stack or gable end. It needs two things from the property: a modest amount of electricity and a clear line of sight over the surrounding area. It does not join your Wi-Fi, does not touch your broadband, and stores nothing about your household.
Why height matters more than location
Radio at 868 MHz travels well but is blocked by buildings and terrain. Lifting the antenna a few metres above the rooftop line can multiply the number of sensors it can reach. A single well-placed host property can cover an entire neighbourhood, which is why network operators lease individual roofs rather than building masts.
What the network is used for locally
Coverage from one rooftop is shared across many public and utility services. Typical deployments include:
- Smart water metering that spots leaks in days rather than months
- Waste and recycling bins that report when they are full
- Air-quality sensors around schools and busy junctions
- Flood and river-level early warning
- Energy and heating monitoring in social housing
- Parking bay and transport occupancy sensing
For a worked example, read the water network case study.
Common questions from hosts
- What does LoRaWAN stand for?
- Long Range Wide Area Network. It is an open, low-power radio standard maintained by the LoRa Alliance, designed to carry very small amounts of data over long distances from battery-powered sensors.
- Is LoRaWAN the same as Wi-Fi or 5G?
- No. Wi-Fi and 5G are built to move large amounts of data quickly. LoRaWAN moves tiny messages — a meter reading or a temperature value — a few times an hour. That is why sensors can run for years on a single battery and why gateways transmit at very low power.
- What frequency does LoRaWAN use in the UK?
- In the UK and across Europe LoRaWAN operates in the licence-exempt 868 MHz band, under Ofcom's rules for short-range devices. It is the same class of spectrum used by smart meters, alarm sensors and car key fobs.
- How much electricity does a gateway use?
- A rooftop gateway typically draws a few watts — comparable to a broadband router left on standby. Under the Netmore Rooftop Programme, hosts receive a fixed £15 a year towards the electricity used.
- Does the gateway collect anything about my household?
- No. The gateway is a relay: it receives encrypted messages from nearby sensors and forwards them to the network. It has no camera, no microphone and no access to your home network or your broadband.
- Will it damage my roof?
- Installation is carried out by qualified engineers using a chimney or gable-end bracket, with no structural alteration. The equipment is installed, maintained and removed at no cost to you.
Think your roof could host one?
Hosts on the Netmore Rooftop Programme receive £350 a year, plus £15 a year towards electricity. Installation, maintenance and removal are all covered.
Check if my property qualifies