Helium Project Update: Free Device Joins on the IOT Network

@Community

Free Device Joins on the IOT Network

On September 28, 2023, the Helium Foundation and core developers in the Helium ecosystem made a change to the Helium Packet Router to remove network billing of LoRaWAN join request messages on the IOT network. This change was made in order to protect the network and its operators from an edge case that allowed actors to freely spam unsolicited device joins and be rewarded for this activity.

This change should have a minimal impact on the incentive mechanism of network data transfer. Once the join process is completed, all subsequent data transfer from the sensor will be accounted for and the Hotspot providing coverage will be rewarded for purchased uplink packets.

A HIP will be forthcoming to allow the community to reaffirm this decision and a discussion will be started in the Helium Community Discord to talk through this change.

Join the discussion here: https://discord.com/channels/404106811252408320/1157062896598134864/1157062899118911588