Hotspots to Support the Growth of the Helium Network
A frequently asked questions
When setting up any Helium Hotspot Miner there is a $40 activation fee and a $10 fee when setting the hotspot’s location.
As part of your purchase price we cover the $40 activation fee and the first location assert fee of $10 (worth $50 in total).
However every time you move your hotspot to a new location you will need to pay the $10 location assert fee again.
The full list of Helium transaction fees can be found in the Helium documentation.
No, the Nebra Helium Hotspots only mine HNT.
The biggest difference is the outdoor unit comes in a case which is suitable to be used outside in mixed environments and has a few extra features. To help you decide we’ve created this handy guide.
Millions of compatible devices can use The People’s Network and each device requires Data Credits (DC) in order to send data to the Internet. Fixed in value, DC are created by ‘burning’ HNT, reducing the total supply to achieve a Burn and Mint Equilibrium. The more devices using DC, the more HNT will be burned.
Helium’s wireless network based on LoRaWAN is best suited for low-power scenarios like sending data to and from sensors using low-cost radio waves, eliminating reliance on more costly networks like cellular and WiFi. It’s fully peer to peer and leverages a robust network of hotspots connected to the network. With just 100 to 200 hotspots, the network can usually cover most cities. In return for hosting hotspots, hosts can earn $HNT for providing access to the LongFi network.
Hotspots earn HNT for building and securing network infrastructure and transferring device data. The amount of HNT distributed to Hotspots depends on the type of “work” they perform based on the value to the network. This validation of network contribution is accomplished by a new work algorithm called Proof-of-Coverage (PoC).
To participate in PoC there must be multiple Hotspots at least 300 meters apart in an area, but still within range of each other (up to many miles depending on environment). Single Hotspots earn less as they can only issue Challenges over the internet, and can’t participate in Proof-of-Coverage. After the first year, distribution amounts adjust.
When setting up any Helium Hotspot Miner there is a $40 activation fee and a $10 fee when setting the hotspot’s location.
As part of your purchase price we cover the $40 activation fee and the first location assert fee of $10 (worth $50 in total).
However every time you move your hotspot to a new location you will need to pay the $10 location assert fee again.
The full list of Helium transaction fees can be found in the Helium documentation.
Compared to other cryptocurrencies there isn’t a constant amount of HNT earned per day by the units due to the variations on a setup to setup basis.
To get a rough idea, we recommend to have a look at the Helium Explorer at other hotspots in your area.
Due to how HNT works, coins are not mined traditionally where a hashrate affects the amount earned. How it is earned is explained on the Helium Website.
The PoE injector must provide 48V to devices and an 802.3af compatible injector is recommended.
Yes, both units have Bluetooth which is used to communicate to the Helium App for initial setup.
Examples of how to set it up can be found in the quick-start guides.
Roughly the hotspots use 30-50GB Per month, overall this roughly is 200-300kBps constantly on the network so should be of little impact to most netwrks.
Yes, both the Indoor & Outdoor Hotspots have Wi-Fi Connectivity with a 2.4Ghz 802.11n Wi-Fi Adaptor included in the units.
The Nebra HNT Outdoor Hotspot Miner comes in three different frequency variants:
- 470 MHz (CN470) – this is suitable for China.
- 868 MHz (EU868, IN865, RU864) – this is suitable for EU, India, Russia and a variety of other countries.
- 915 MHz (US915, AU915, KR920, AS923-1/2/3) – this is suitable for USA, Australia, New Zealand and lots of countries in South America and Asia.
If you are unsure which frequency you need to order you can take a look at our “What Helium Region” tool created by our engineer Ryan.
In the Nebra HNT hotspot miners, the frequency plan for the LoRa concentrator (for example US915 or AU915) is determined automatically based on the location that you choose for the “location assert”. This means that within the frequency variants (470 MHz, 868 MHz, 915 MHz) you can move it to a new location with a different frequency plan and it will auto-update. This only works within a single frequency – for example you can change from a US915 to AU915 location. But you can’t change from a US915 location to EU868 or CN470 without changing the concentrator module.
The Nebra HNT Outdoor Hotspot Miner earns HNT Helium tokens when devices connect, and for validating wireless coverage delivered by peers. Using a system called Proof-of-Coverage, Hotspot Miners earn more HNT when they’re in range of other miners, but need to be at least 300 metres apart.
The range depends on the environment:
- Rural areas: ~10 miles or more.
- Dense areas: ~ 1 mile.
Single HNT Hotspot Miners earn less as they can only issue Challenges over the internet, and can’t participate in Proof-of-Coverage.
You can view the power consumption for the Hotspot’s on their respective Overview Pages.
Yes, we have passed both HIP19 approval with Helium, and have also had our prototype unit’s hardware validated. More details can be found on Helium’s Engineering Blog
Yes, both units have Bluetooth which is used to communicate to the Helium App for initial setup.
Examples of how to set it up can be found in the quick-start guides.
When setting up any Helium Hotspot Miner there is a $40 activation fee and a $10 fee when setting the hotspot’s location.
As part of your purchase price we cover the $40 activation fee and the first location assert fee of $10 (worth $50 in total).
However every time you move your hotspot to a new location you will need to pay the $10 location assert fee again.
The full list of Helium transaction fees can be found in the Helium documentation.
The indoor unit has a RP-SMA Female Connector on, and the outdoor unit has an N-Type female connector on.
No, the indoor unit does not have the ability to have a 4G Modem added, you could use a solution like a Mi-fi or 4G to Ethernet module to achieve the same result.
Currently we are roughly estimating 30-50GB per month.
The actual usage may be slightly less or more and will be something we up-date over time as we start measuring more units.
If you wish to use PoE with the Indoor Hotspot you will require an active PoE splitter that outputs 12V to the unit. Alternatively you can use passive PoE adapters as long as the power provided to the unit is between 9 and 16 Volts and can provide 15W of power.
- Step 1: Remove the screws from the bottom of the case to take off the lid.
- Step 2: Then re-insert the daughter board into the 60 pin header and then reassemble
That’s all, you should be good to go.
Here’s a short video showing you how to re-mount the daughterboard.
If your issues cannot be resolved by the troubleshooting page then please email sales@nebra.com and include the following information:
- Model of unit:
- Mac address of the unit (Shown as ETH on sticker):
- Frequency of the unit (Shown as Freq on sticker):
- How are you connecting it to internet? (Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Cellular):
- How are you powering the unit? (Included adaptor, POE, Third party adaptor): If the issue relates to
- initial setup of the hotspot:
- What make & model of phone are you using?
- What version of the Helium App are you using?
- Do you have any screenshots of any error codes?
