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p/heliumDeploy a Hotspot. Own your City.
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Aaron O'Leary

Helium Hotspot - Powering the world's first peer-to-peer wireless network

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Anyone can join The People’s Network and earn rewards by plugging in a Helium Hotspot and providing coverage.
Built to power the world's first peer-to-peer wireless network, the Helium Hotspot rewards owners for connecting to the internet.

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Aaron O'Leary
Hunter
This is so cool. Excited to see this in action. Congrats on the recent funding round @amirhaleem and team
Amir Haleem
Maker
@aaronoleary thanks!
Blake Seufert
Yes! The peer to peer dream needs to come true. It is the future we all want, I hope you can pull it off. You have my support.
Matt Hall
This seems really cool, but I couldn't find any instructions on how to use the network? Are only partners allowed to attach devices to the network, or is it open everyone? to be clear: I'm not talking about the routers, I'm asking about IoT type devices that would send and receive data to the routers.
Amir Haleem
Maker
@matthall2000 it's open and entirely permissionless. we will be releasing end device protocol definitions, firmware and SDK's very soon.
Dun
Great idea, but if it really works, it will be a huge network of devices that will consume a large amount of extra energy. In the meantime, as it's required to attach to someone's home network, when you go camping or drive on a country road, there will be no coverage. Ultimately, when 5G is ready, there are no longer needs for router or wifi, all your devices will get access to the internet through the 5G network directly using one internet account.
Amir Haleem
Maker
@huangdun 5G is not suitable for low power devices, so we view them as different technologies for solving different problems
Dun
@amirhaleem What would be an example of low power devices that need to connect to the network? Right now in my home, smart devices that are plugged in can access the internet through wifi, and they also act as a hub to devices that use Bluetooth to communicate. So I can still monitor my window sensors or locks through my humidifier or light strips as they are close to each other and can communicate through Bluetooth.
Amir Haleem
Maker
@huangdun as a simple example think of tracking devices and outdoor environmental sensors
Lora Friedenthal
What devices connect to this? If I got a hotspot, then what?
Nicholas Norris
@darkmagess I am not sure myself but this is not WiFi for your phone kinda hot spot. Its for establishing a new network of devices that may send small amount of data that may like a GPS tracker for your car or a thermometer. I think that the goal is for these devices to to connect to a single hotspot. So the idea is you setup a hotspot in your neighborhood and now everyone a mile around you can use sensors. Your hotspot will help their little data get to the cloud. I can see how it can help with design of small device sensors who are best to have a small battery.
Rodney Harris
@darkmagess Smart pet collars, bike trackers, or any compatible Internet of Things (IoT) devices can connect to Hotspots without Wi-Fi or cellular and send data to the internet. Hotspots also act as miners on the Helium Blockchain for a new cryptocurrency, Helium. The Helium hotspot makes LongFi, covering miles of connectivity to send data to and from the internet.
Debbie
Interesting! Would like to try this
Amir Haleem
Maker
@deborahrayne31 you know what to do!
Sam Campbell
Looks awesome! Can you share why a traditional telco wouldn't build a network like this? Also- what type of speed and capacity can the network handle?
Amir Haleem
Maker
@campbellcapital traditional telco's are attempting to compete in this space by offering LTE NB-IoT and Category M1 services. we still believe the cost (both hardware and service) and power consumption are not suitable for low powered devices
Farid Bonawiede
Fon tried do this 10 years ago. Later they pivoted into selling hotspot access. Will this lead to ISPs starting to charge for data instead of speed?
Rodney Harris
@fbonawiede Only time will tell, but there is currently a vast array of Prepaid mobile hotspot services.
Nicholas Norris
Anyone know the ROE on this product? Seems that Sensors must be used your area. Will someone ever make back the value that they spend. Is it better for a person to have 2 nodes than 1 if they are geographically separated? It seems that there is a lot of hype when you look at the node map and see your "network" is in 3 cites.
Nicholas Norris
Seems like a chicken and egg problem. You need the network for sensors. Sensors create the incentive for the network.
Josh Smith
Can't wait to get my device.
Kurt Pires
Are they gold plated? (In other words: why are the hotspots so expensive?)
Mardomak Banitorfy
Could it be harmful for human or animals living in home where the device is? I mean like microwaves?
Joe Sixpack
The $64K question here is what is the current worth of the rewards being paid out per node owned each month after the dilution of nodes in 745+ cities, and how long will redistributing that VC money to node owners last?
Matthew Castrigno
actual tech support that says something other than blame my network
Chelou
If I need 400 hotspots, what should I do?