Helium News
Helium (HNT) Hits a New Milestone: 540,000 Hotspots are Now Providing LoRaWAN Coverage
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Helium (HNT) recently published a very important update on the state of its network of hotspots, which shows massive progression as the word of the project spreads, and more users decide to join.
According to its recent Twitter announcement, there are now nearly 540,000 hotspots that were onboarded to provide LoRaWAN coverage and mine the project’s native cryptocurrency, HNT.
This has great significance for the project, as its goal is to become a massive decentralized blockchain-powered network for the Internet of Things devices.
The project has its LoRa, or Long Range Network, which relates to the IoT sector. Specifically, it focuses on LoRaWAN.
Helium’s network explained
Regular LoRa networks are usually dismissed by many, who make a point that cellular networks typically offer a similar type of service, which is true. However, LoRa networks do differ in several important ways, such as offering the same range as the cellular network but without the high cost that accompanies cellular networks. Another way in which they differ is that LoRa are meant to carry small bits of data and use small amounts of power, which is ideal for IoT devices.
Finally, LoRa has a major advantage in the sense that it can offer the internet where it is actually useful, while cellular networks do not cover such areas due to problems such as the cost.
Now, Helium’s LoRaWAN does this also, in its own, unique way. The network allows individuals to set up a Helium hotspot, which offers a wide range of coverage for any IoT device compatible with the network. The hotspots are physically connected to a home network, which is in turn connected to an internet provider that gives it access to the web.
All devices, sensors, gadgets, and alike that connect to the Helium network can then send their data to the closest hotspot over LoRa, and the hotspot then moves this data to a local network, which is how the data eventually reaches the open internet.
This is why it is very important for the Helium network to have as many available hotspots as possible, and spread around the world. That way, the data from any compatible device can easily locate a nearby hotspot and use it to send the data that it collected to the internet, where it can be made available instantly to anyone who needs it.
With 540,000 hotspots now onboarded and available, Helium is making excellent progress which could act as a major game-changer to how the data is collected and distributed by the IoT.
How did the price respond?
Unfortunately, it does not seem like the news of the project’s new milestone has had a significant impact on the HNT price. The price did grow in early 2022 to nearly $45 after previously hitting an ATH at $52.7 and then correcting to $26 in late 2021. However, after approaching the resistance at $45, the price was rejected to a support at $32.5, and then it dropped even further, eventually finding its bottom at $20 on January 24th.
In the final week of Januarry, the coin surged again, reaching $29.5 on January 26th. It spent the remaining days in January and early February fluctuating between $29 and $26.5, but in the last 24 hours, it dropped by 8.5% to a bottom at $24.5, At the time of writing, it is only slightly above this level, currently sitting at $24.9.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Helium guide.
