Sigh. If the tokens are tradable (and they will be, otherwise what's the use in trying to earn them), how will this not to turn into yet another blockchain cartel race to the bottom in pursuit of leverage over the thinly traded float?

Have Helium actually solved the paradox of bootstrapping initial distribution of a purportedly decentralized network token from a tiny, necessarily centralized sponsoring body* to the much wider class of eventual user-adopters such that conditions do not favor enabling the former group's outsize leverage over the float to permanently manipulate the chart price - thus purchasing power - of the latter groups "earnings"?

* whether this means "the devs", "the miners" or their equivalent manifestations in this system - colluding node cliques generating high-volume fake-traffic loads maybe.

What exactly do you mean by "blockchain cartel race to the bottom in pursuit of leverage over the thinly traded float"?

you had me at blockchain

Did a little digging and here's what I found out. Apparently Lime scooters and Tile's trackers as well as somebody putting a transmitter in dog collars. So if you become a Helium ISP at least in an urban area there will be a few customers.

But you know what's missing from their website? Where I can buy a transmitter retail to test my hotspot. Maybe you've got to build it yourself and if that's the case technical details like the frequency or a schematic would be helpful.

Lots of times the first people to buy something new when there's no existing base are the hobbyists.

There will be device dev kits soon.

This is interesting and I'm tempted to order a base station. But how can one buy client hardware or find reference designs for building clients that use this network?

Not OP but work @Helium. All the hardware designed will be open sourced. The end node devices can run on LoRa modules with custom (open source) firmware and secure crypto-processor (https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/ATECC608A).

Wonder what the ROI is like if it costs $500.

There will never be any kind of answer to this question by Helium or its affiliates. https://consumer.findlaw.com/securities-law/what-is-the-howe...

Any projected ROI based on what is known so far by community members?

Is there any details of what the "rewards" are? I read the product page and am not sure what the upside is for hotspot owners. Isn't the ISP's job to build out their own network?

Also https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/12/helium-network/, via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20168450

See also: https://magic.co

And https://althea.org/

I’d be interested in setting up/hosting a few hotspots in Denver. Username@gmail

Great to see some real blockchain innovation like Helium instead of just a bunch of "hot air"

The proof of coverage looks pretty cool although there are probably more ways the overall system could go wrong than it could succeed.