Helium is (initially) focused on shipping a LoRaWAN[0] network with a crowd sourced model for Lora RF hotspots that uses blockchain for to pay incentives to those supporting the network (via hardware, power, bandwidth). LoRaWAN focuses on low power, very low bandwidth, long range devices like sensor networks and simple controls.
Nearest competitor to Helium's LoRaWAN deployment that I'm aware of is The Things Network[1] which has no incentive model and instead people often host an access point for their personal use and sometimes for the use of those nearby.
Helium is expanding to CBRS[2] 5G service which will offer traditional higher bandwidth services, but this deployment is very early and the first units are shipping next month from FreedomFi[3].
Coolest thing about the Helium LoRaWAN offering is that you can buy a $20 ESP32 microcontroller with Lora radio on Amazon, write some software, buy Helium data credits and use it anywhere helium has coverage. No contracts, no special hardware. And if it sucks you could switch your application to use another LoRaWAN offering (The Things Network). That said, I think the coverage of Helium vastly outpaces anything else because of the crypto incentives fueling the madness and growth. [4]
> Coolest thing about the Helium LoRaWAN offering is that you can buy a $20 ESP32 microcontroller with Lora radio on Amazon, write some software, buy Helium data credits and use it anywhere helium has coverage.
Or just go with the free TTN. But I do agree that it's good to have icentives and I'm quite glad somebody is rolling out a large scale LoRaWAN.
Helium has better coverage than TTN by orders of magnitude. I have an environmental sensor which reports every 15 minutes and $1 pays for years of data transfer.
The biggest difference seems to be that aside from dropping some buzzwords like blockchain that page gives no description for what Helium 5G actually is or what the intended use cases for it are.
Kind of interesting how it stops being a buzzword when you understand why the word is being used, more interesting to watch other people be allergic to some words.
That landing page is sparse but Helium and other wireless networks are using blockchains as a rollout strategy.
Basically people invest in radio hardware because they think they can earn more in the blockchain token, don't worry as the radios are low power and most networks especially Helium's doesn't allow people to hoard radios, you earn less if there are other radios in the coverage zone. Other radios are the nodes which report your adherence to the network rules, the blockchain automatically pays out. Thats the supply side. The demand is people and organizations buying the token to buy send data over this network. With Helium I believe thats a one way conversion: Helium tokens -> data. But the receiving radio gets paid in new Helium from the blockchain's issuance, if it received any data then thats a bonus added to its payout allowance (but its not 1:1 to the amount of Helium tokens burned). So its kind of fun to think that the availability of this wireless network will have some service buying this digital commodity as an overhead cost and extending service to people that don't know Helium is one of the network routes behind the scenes. There are some IOT device that use the Helium network, I think some of the rideshare scooters use it already for over a year.
Helium 5G will become a large neutral host carrier for mobile using CBRS bands. Meaning that major network operators, or MVNOs, are the real customer.
The way this works is Helium hardware owner/operators deploy CBRS radios in whatever real estate assets they have at their disposal, then Helium or the Helium OEM partners with MNO/MVNO to offload data at a very cheap rate, and suddenly the carrier can grow network coverage at zero capex and low opex and the Helium node owner has a new source of revenue which was never before possible.
They also open the door to become a semi-private network infrastructure too, which would be in competition with this new Amazon product.
I mean it's very obvious how it's different: helium is not private. It's also obvious that you just wanted to namedrop Helium even though it has nothing to do with the use case for Amazon's product.
I beg to differ: it's a competitor for custom devices needing to transfer small amounts of data without regulatory hurdles, with the drawback of spotty connectivity given the current coverage map.
But for a moving device (ex: truck) transmitting locally stored data without latency concerns (ex: IOT temperature readings for a frozen cargo) I think it would be much more efficient, with far more coverage: you could have a $20 LORAWAN ESP32 built in individual boxes.
Think of this like Apple airtags, using a mesh network to intermittently transfer data on a best effort basis, but hooked to custom sensors so you fully control the payload
It's actually not that bad. It's basically just a payment for providing verifiable wireless coverage to an area. If you want access to the network you buy it with VerizonBucks and people who provide coverage get them.
In this case the only reason for the blockchain is really because global payments are hard.
It is similar concept but for AWS, you need to own your spectrum ($$$$).
Helium is a useless concept (in practice) that is now getting on the 5G trains for marketing purposes. Their IOT is super-low data rate for anything useful. It is good for people to thinker and speculate but no use for real life applications that demand actual throughput.
