Frequently Asked Questions Helium Miner

Various Helium-approved manufacturers sell miners on their websites. However at the present time lead times are very long. If you are looking for a miner right away, you can find one on eBay.

A couple of important things when purchasing a Helium miner on eBay.

Read the listing carefully. Some people are selling pre-ordered miners and don’t actually have a miner in hand yet. In this case you could be waiting a while before you get your miner.

Make sure you understand what the seller’s return policy is. In general you should not have an issue that cannot be resolved with a brand new miner bought directly from the manufacturer. The company that made the miner should be able to help you sort out common problems. However make sure that you get the necessary proof of purchase from the seller and any other documentation you need for warranty purposes.

Communicate with the seller. With a used miner you will have to sort out the miner transfer. It’s not plug-and-play. Once the miner is transferred you will also have to assert a new miner location

Here is a list of some important considerations:

• If you’re going to place your miner indoors, we recommend getting the MNTD miner
• If you’re planning on installing your miner outdoors, make sure you pick one that is designed to withstand the elements. Nebra outdoor unit is a good one to get
• Miners use radio waves to connect to each other and earn HNT. A miner that’s purchased for the North American market will not work in the EU. That’s because the frequency of operation is different for the two regions. So pick a miner with the correct frequency coverage option for your region.

Assuming that everything else such as location, antenna and miner density are the same, the most profitable Helium miner is the one that is the most reliable and stays online for longer. We recommend: The MNTD indoor miner and the Nebra outdoor hotspot.

Make sure you have a plan for where you are going to install your miner. Read our article on how to maximize your HNT earnings.

The Helium network is increasing at an exponential pace. It has grown 15x in a very short while. In March 2021 there were only 20,000 miners online. Currently there are over 400,000. In the early part of 2022, we anticipate a miner to make 0.1 HNT per day on average. In this post we go through the Helium earning math.

A miner connects to the internet using either Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Based on my experience, Wi-Fi connectivity is very unreliable unless your miner sits right next to the Wi-Fi router. One of the reasons for this is that miners have Wi-Fi antennas that are internal to the enclosure. It would have made sense to allow for an external Wi-Fi antenna as that would give better range. Until then, my recommendation is to use wired Ethernet to connect your miner to the internet.

The Linxdot miner has a fast sync feature that allows you to join the Helium network within 30 minutes of activating your hotspot.

• 2021 was the year in which Helium went sort of mainstream
• Helium network has grown very fast. From 20,000 to 400,000 miners in 2021
• The demand for HNT miner hardware has far outstripped supply. This has placed a very large support burden on small manufacturers. As a result, with the exception of larger manufacturers like Rak, the speed at which issues were resolved has understandably not been very fast.
• Experimenting with miners to optimize HNT earnings, trying different antennas, participating in discussions on Discord and Reddit – it’s been a tremendous learning experience in 2021

Overall it’s been a fun ride so far and 2022 promises to be equally if not more exciting!