Note: When buying your hotspot, have your wits about you. These devices are in high demand, and they have attracted scammers. Even buying a miner with cash in person can land you in some hot water, it could be faulty and it would be very difficult determine for days or weeks, if at all!

Location, location, location! Whether you’ve already got your hotspot, on a waiting list or still considering it, this is vital. Home, may not be your most optimal place. You may have access to other property that may be more profitable. In short, highest is best. Remember, there is no right or wrong answer and that each installation is unique.

Hotspots are placed in 2 main categories, indoor and outdoor. If its feasible for your situation. Our recommendation is an external hotspot. To elaborate, your hotspot transmits an rf signal. As with all radio signal, it works better when not enclosed inside the typical materials you would see properties built with. Such as brick walls, or in worse cases foil back kingspan type insulation boards. Even being placed in a window won’t compete with actually being outside.

This isn’t always feasible though. Your second best option is an indoor hotspot, connected to an external antenna, which is placed, outside, as high as possible. The hotspot, would be located indoors, as high in the property as possible, think attic/loft spaces and shelves high up. Whilst needing the antenna as high as possible we also need to consider the length of cable between the antenna and the hotspot. Every extra meter of cable will have an impact, this is called signal loss. Whilst just a recommendation, it’s generally advised not to exceed 10 meters of cable.

A third option, which might be used as a last resort, is window mounting the antenna, that is externally, using some form of either adhesive or a suction cup type design. Window pass through cables which are very thin are available for these sorts of installations. Other options won’t be mentioned as they are not recommended ways to install a hotspot.

Now that you know the basics about installation, it’s time to think about the best location. You may have a family member with a mountain retreat, or maybe you’re a landlord with a skyrise. Most aren’t this lucky but think carefully and use the Explorer tool provided by Helium. You can find out how many hotspots are already connected to the network near you. The map splits the world up into millions of linking hexagons. Studying this map is of upmost importance.