I guess it depends a lot on what you're trying to use it for. Long-range low-power radio is pretty much guaranteed to suck in a congested environment; the noise floor is going to be high unless you're using narrow-beam point-to-point antennas (with interference both from other devices using the same protocol and other devices sharing the unlicensed spectrum). I've played with it in two environments so far and it has worked fabulously well in both of them:
- Rural sensors attached to things like grain bins, where a pair of AA batteries can last multiple seasons sending periodic temperature updates and alerts if the temperature starts climbing at a faster than expected rate
- Mobile rural sensors worked quite well too. These were attached to things like tractors and had GPS receivers attached for real-time position tracking. Power wasn't nearly as much of a concern but rather taking advantage of the long-range capability while staying inside the unlicensed ISM band and respecting FCC/ISED power limits.
- Low-density urban where the neighbourhoods are made up primarily of single-family homes and not multi-storey condos or apartments. It worked well but honestly something like Zigbee would have likely been a more appropriate technology since it would have allowed for even lower power in the end devices.
- Rural sensors attached to things like grain bins, where a pair of AA batteries can last multiple seasons sending periodic temperature updates and alerts if the temperature starts climbing at a faster than expected rate
- Mobile rural sensors worked quite well too. These were attached to things like tractors and had GPS receivers attached for real-time position tracking. Power wasn't nearly as much of a concern but rather taking advantage of the long-range capability while staying inside the unlicensed ISM band and respecting FCC/ISED power limits.
- Low-density urban where the neighbourhoods are made up primarily of single-family homes and not multi-storey condos or apartments. It worked well but honestly something like Zigbee would have likely been a more appropriate technology since it would have allowed for even lower power in the end devices.