Helium has arrived in Canberra…

Welcome to Helium ACT – a site dedicated to providing (hopefully) useful information to those interested in growing the Helium network in Canberra and the surrounding region from the ground up.

We hope this will inspire you to get involved with this exciting opportunity, learn more about it, get in touch, and also to maybe share some of this information with your friends, colleagues and family that you think may find it interesting too…

If we can inspire you or others to help grow the Helium network in Canberra, we will have done our job.

Interested? Read on…

PS. If you’re already across Helium and are wanting to get involved with the community, take a look at this page for six tips on connecting with the Helium community in Canberra…

So, what IS Helium?

You mean aside from being a noble gas that makes you sound funny…? 😉

 

Helium in this context is a project to develop a large and rapidly growing global, decentralised, long range wireless network designed to support the Internet of Things (IOT).

Nicknamed ‘The People’s Network’ it’s *just* starting to take off in Australia and has been developing at an incredible pace in both the US and Europe. The Helium network will provide coverage support to small IoT sensors through ubiquitous coverage of a network of special LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network)-enabled Helium hotspots or miners.

And what does this Helium network do, exactly?!

‘The People’s Network’ is built not by big corporates, but by people like you and me using small hotspot devices – the equivalent of a home router – providing secure long range wireless coverage to low bandwidth, low energy IoT sensors.

Think of Helium as a networking technology like bluetooth – but that works over a MUCH greater distance and sends a whole lot LESS data. Helium hotspots provide a ‘longfi’ wireless technology which extends many kilometres rather than just metres in the case of bluetooth or wifi.

Who/what’s gonna use this Helium ‘longfi’ network?

Small amounts of data being able to be transmitted inexpensively over long distances, is perfect for IoT (Internet of Things) devices to be able to communicate…

It’s great for things like: parcel tracking, weather sensors, smart gps-enabled dog collars, and the like.

But it’s pathetic for things like: gaming, streaming Netflix, Facebook, and even email is too big!

Why should I care? What’s in it for me?

Helium may pique your interest from several angles.

Firstly, there’s the geek angle. Electronics enthusiasts who are interested in the application of the technology and how a ubiquitous wireless network could be used.

Secondly, it’s a cryptocurrency/blockchain project and with the growth of the network it’s potentially a good investment. (Read our disclaimer).

By helping build this ‘longfi’ wireless infrastructure in your area, you are paid in Helium tokens (HNT) (a cryptocurrency), and it can be quite lucrative.

How are people rewarded?

The Helium network rewards people for providing ‘proof of coverage‘ ie. you are rewarded for having a Helium hotspot that provides coverage for an area in your neighbourhood.

Proof of this coverage is provided by other hotspots in your area validating or ‘witnessing‘ the coverage your own hotspot provides to the community and vice versa. The more hotspots in your area that can witness your own hotspot, the more HNT you are rewarded with.

As the network grows, hotspot owners will be rewarded by people and organisations using the network to transmit and receive their sensor data.

Right now, for Helium in Australia, we’re very much in the growth phase which means that the rewards are paid for helping building the network and providing that important coverage.

Yeah, and so what kind of equipment do I need?

The equipment needed is simple.

If you live in a high-rise building with amazing views, having a small $750 hotspot sitting by the window connected to your home broadband connection might be ALL that you need.

For those of us in the suburbs, greater range (and therefore greater coverage, and profits) can be achieved with a system with a roof-mounted antenna with good line of sight hopefully to other Helium hotspots in the vicinity!

Links to equipment can be found in the Resources section.

This all sounds quite complicated. Is it?

It can be as easy or as complicated as you like.

It’s not beyond the reach of your average computer-savvy Canberran for a simple install. But to optimise the coverage and subsequently your earnings, some extra effort with a roof mounted antenna might pay off.

We can help out if you need help.

There must be loads of these hotspots in Canberra, already. Right?

Get this! And you’re gonna laugh….as of 1 September 2021 – Just checking the numbers…um…that can’t be right…

TWO!

Just a couple of lonely Helium hotspots in Canberra!

So far…

Did we mention that the network was just getting started? That wasn’t a figure of speech. It is starting right now and it’s really exciting. Sure, it’ll take a while to get going, and there’s a worldwide shortage of hardware right now too, but the demand is strong.

Over 440,000 hotspot/miners have been deployed around the world however, just check the Helium Explorer map! Over 50,000 hotspots have come online in the last month alone.  

Australia is about to receive it’s first deliveries of AU915 approved hotspots and it’s set to explode here, too.

How do I get involved?

We’re glad you asked. We’re looking for people who find this kind of project interesting and want to get in early.

So, we’re looking for:

1. More people to help build the network out by buying and deploying hotspots of their own. The more hotspots, the better the coverage, the more the network becomes more useful and the more profitable the network becomes.
2. People who just want to partner up for a hotspot hosting arrangement – we’ll provide the hotspot and some gear and you provide a good place to host it – hopefully somewhere nice and high with great views over Canberra! – and we’ll share the HNT earnings with you.

If that’s you, register your interest below.

You’ve made it all the way to the bottom!

Hopefully after reading this far, you’re interested.

If you are, we’re super pleased!

Be sure to take a look at our Resources section for links to hardware and various online forums where you can discuss Helium in Australia. Also take a look at the blog where there’s loads more posts about Helium and the technology.

We’d love to stay in touch and add you to our mailing list as we have more to share. We’ll keep you informed on the growth of the Helium network in Canberra and would love to hear from you if you need help.

Do not fear we will not spam you nor sell our list to the highest bidder either. 🙂

Cheers,

Helium ACT