Helium Blog

Scams aren't limited to cryptocurrency. There are actual businesses that are providing the real-world utility with the assistance of cryptocurrency. Take, for example, Helium Network. Helium has scaled the most ubiquitous IoT network on Earth with a revolutionary business model that incentivizes users to set up IoT hotspots and soon other wireless protocols like 5G, Wi-Fi 6, VPN, and more, with cryptocurrency incentivization and a Proof-of-Coverage mechanism. This new business model to scale infrastructure is here to stay.

https://explorer.helium.com/

https://about.dish.com/2021-10-26-DISH-Partners-with-Helium-to-Leverage-the-Helium-Networks-Blockchain-Model-using-CBRS-Spectrum

https://blog.helium.com/san-jos%C3%A9-first-city-to-launch-initiative-on-the-peoples-network-to-bridge-the-digital-divide-5849ac8a8be7

https://senetco.com/about/news/senet-and-helium-announce-lorawan-network-integration-partnership/

https://blog.helium.com/helium-chapter-2-a-network-of-networks-7372262210bd

You can believe it or not. But businesses like Helium are positioned for success and sustainability and are here to stay.

Edit: Hacker News is telling me I'm posting too fast. Here are some more resources:

https://www.helium.com/enterprise

https://www.helium.com/chapter2

https://multicoin.capital/2021/03/17/the-helium-flywheel/

http://whitepaper.helium.com/

Here are some excellent resources if you want to learn more about the network, its future goals, and its economic model. The white…

OP here. I think Helium(*) is super interesting. They are building an access network for LoRa by using crypto coins to incentivize people to deploy base stations. You essentially get crypto coins for every packet that passes through your own base station. And anyone who wants to use the network pay for access using crypto coins.

The idea is that if you are designing and selling a product, say, a dog collar, you can build Helium(*) capabilities into your product by including a LoRa chip in it. Your customers can then use the Helium(*) network to communicate with the dog collar, for example to locate a missing dog. The fees for this service then flows to the people that have deployed the base stations that facilitate this communication.

To me, this seems like a great way both to build an access network and to get people invested in (and excited in) the process. There are now also a bunch of companies who are taking advantage of this network for their products.

(What we at Thingsquare is doing, and what is discussed in the article, is a little different from what Helium(*) is doing. We are providing a single-purpose network for one system/product, such as a street lighting system. That entire system is connected using its own mesh network, and that mesh network is typically not used for anything but that product's communication needs.)

*: Helium recently changed their name to Nova Labs but I'm not sure exactly how that will effect the naming of the Helium network:…

> CBRS is a band of wireless spectrum – a 150 MHz wide contiguous band of the 3.5 GHz band

> Though the FCC will auction CBRS licenses, called Priority Access Licenses (PALs), enterprises will still be able secure General Authorized Access (GAA) to CBRS spectrum without a license.

https://www.sierrawireless.com/iot-blog/new-cbrs-band/

There might even be a community hotspot alliance so you can roam:

> Helium 5G will be the second major wireless network that the Helium Network supports. If you have a phone that supports 5G, such as an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, you will soon be able to connect through Hotspots that are powered by the People — you may be getting 5G from your neighbor!

https://blog.helium.com/episode-two-the-path-to-5g-3f704a58661

> it is suggested that we initially set the price of passing 1GB of CBRS data through Helium network at $.50 per GB or $.00000003 per LTE packet of 66 bytes.

https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/master/0027-cbrs-5g-support.md

From their blog posts…

Helium mobile is a mobile phone carrier which provides coverage via decentralized 5g cell sites. This is unlike traditional cell carriers which either own the cell site infrastructure or rent access to it from an often larger carrier.

Participants who host a 5g cell site on the network are rewarded in project specific crypto tokens. Similarly opted in mobile subscribers who verify the cell sites are also rewarded in tokens. [1][2]

A coverage map of the IoT network and mobile network (see the menu) can be seen here: https://explorer.helium.com/

And a little more info on the network incentives is talked about in this blog post: https://blog.helium.com/mobile-proof-of-coverage-the-road-ahead-73a25601a13d

1: https://blog.hellohelium.com/you-asked-we-answered/

2: https://youtu.be/cDhTOiJ1Qtk