HIP 145: Utility Probing

• Authors: @zer0tweets, @jhiller
• Start Date: 2025-06-23
• Category: Economic, Technical
• Original HIP PR: #1171
• Tracking Issue: #1174
• Voting Requirements: veHNT holders

Summary

This HIP proposes a new method for calculating Proof-of-Coverage (PoC) rewards, referred to as utility probing. This will be rolled out initially out in the United States and eventually expanded to include Helium Mobile Hotspots worldwide.

Under this system, all eligible (greenfield) Helium Mobile Hotspots will continuously broadcast Mobile Network Operator (MNO) compliant SSIDs. Subscribers from participating MNOs will attempt to connect, but their connections will be intentionally denied by Nova. The purpose of this process is to measure how many unique subscriber devices attempt to connect, which serves as a proxy for real-world utility. This data will be used to influence PoC rewards.

Regions such as Mexico, where subscriber offload density is low, will continue earning PoC rewards under the current model and will switch later once subscriber density from Telefónica offload reaches adequate levels in select regions.

Rendered View

https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/main/0145-utility-probing.md