Internet in mining is needed to transfer information between the decentralized network and miners. During the creation of the farm take into account the ping, the stability of mobile communication in the area, because the quality of the connection depends on the number of stale-ball and, accordingly, income. At the same time, mining via 3G is still possible and relevant. Video cards consume a little bit of traffic during operation, because of which a home farm is suitable even mobile connection.
Internet in cryptocurrency mining
Coin miners solve cryptographic problems and then send them to a decentralized network. If the miner performs the calculations correctly and manages first, he will receive a reward. Otherwise, his block will be called a stale block, for which no payment is due. In order to minimize the percentage of late stale blocks and not lose income, miners:
- Look for providers with a stable connection.
- Connect to a pool with a server nearby. The location of the equipment also plays a role. Russians rarely log into American pools because of high ping.
- Disable unnecessary software that loads the connection or filters traffic.
Influence of internet speed and ping on the work of the farm
Solving cryptographic tasks, the equipment constantly sends data to the server and receives new tasks over the network. If the communication bandwidth is too low, unnecessary delays will occur. They won’t affect the farm’s performance, but they will reduce efficiency. Even if it quickly finds a block or solves a ball, unstable internet will nullify the result of work, as it will deliver data late.
Calculating the ping to the pool
Most miners mine tokens in special services, not alone. Therefore, you need to take into account the ping to the pool (the main server of the community), where the balls are compiled into ready-made solutions to cryptographic problems. To find out the speed of data transfer using the Internet, it is worth using the function built into Windows. Step-by-step instructions:
- Open the Run window using Win + R.
- Type cmd to start the command line.
- Write the request ping and specify the address of the service to which the Rig is connected.
The command starts the packet exchange procedure to analyze the ping. As a result, Windows will show the minimum, maximum and average time intervals for this server.
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In order to less often face difficulties due to high ping, you should connect to a large pool that has several servers in the world. ViaBTC, AntPool, NiceHash are suitable.
The farm works normally with a ping up to 150 ms. However, it is worth reducing this indicator to a minimum. The optimal ping is 15-90 ms.
How much internet will be required for a mining farm
Mining cryptocurrency consumes relatively little traffic. Unlike watching movies, online games, it rarely requires more than 200 MB per day. This is enough for the functioning of 3 regs of 10 video cards.
The farm does not require huge bandwidth to operate. To minimize the percentage of stale share, it is enough to establish a connection with a speed of at least 10-20 Kb/s for each video card. It turns out that 1 MB/s is enough for trouble-free operation of 50 devices.
Mining via 4G allows you to transfer up to 100 MB/s over mobile connections and up to 1 Gbps to stationary users. Farms rarely face difficulties precisely because of internet speeds. The main problem is instability of connection in some regions (for example, in cities with congested cell towers).
Criteria for choosing the internet for mining
All generations of cable and wireless communication are available in Russia. Therefore, when choosing the Internet for a mining farm, there is often a question of which provider to contract with. In order not to regret after connection, it is worth evaluating operators by three criteria:
- Cost of services. In the conditions of cryptozyme it is necessary to look for providers with inexpensive tariffs to optimize business. Some operators have promotions (for example, free mobile communication when connecting home TV).
- Availability and workload. They should be evaluated by users who plan to engage in mining via 3G and 4G. If the cell tower in the area is overloaded, 4G will be similar in speed to 2G or even 1G. With a large number of users, there is also an increased risk of short connection drops.
- Stability. The operator must provide uninterrupted connectivity. While there is no access to the Internet, the video card in vain “burns” electricity. Therefore, it is worth looking for providers with minimal downtime.
After buying a SIM card, it remains to connect the Rig to the Internet. There are several options for connection.
| Type | Subspecies | Speed (theoretical) |
|---|---|---|
For a home farm for 20 video cards or ASICs, it is worth buying a sim card and inserting it into a special router. In this case, the regs are connected using twisted pair.
Features of mining via 3G
The nominal speed of this generation is 42 MB / s, but it should be remembered that the actual throughput is often lower. This is due to the high and changing load on cell towers.
In Moscow, the average speed in Tele2 and MTS networks is 10.4 MB/s and 10.1 MB/s, and the maximum speed is 25.6 MB/s and 26.1 MB/s.
10 MB/s is enough for the farm, but in this case it is advisable to disable unnecessary Windows services that load the Internet. Among them:
- TermService. It is used for remote computer management.
- “Update Center”. The service is disabled not only because of the load on the Internet, but also because of the possibility of unexpected failures, as well as program conflicts after installing new software.
In addition, it is worth prohibiting updates for all applications on the PC, limit the work of browsers and other software not related to mining. This will unload the Internet and make it more stable.
Features of 4G for mining
The actual generation of communication is superior to 3G in terms of bandwidth. The maximum speed in Moscow reaches 89 MB / s (MegaFon) for mobile devices. Other operators offer 50-79 MB / s. With this speed, you do not have to worry about the fact that video cards and asics will not be able to instantly download data to solve the balloon.
When working with 4G, it is worth paying attention to the stability of the local connection. Providers sell two types of devices that are suitable for mining:
- Routers with a SIM card slot.
- 3G/4G modems.
Of these, the second option is more often chosen, since the first type of devices is characterized by low functionality and is not designed for a large load. For a large farm a bundle of a 4G modem and a standard router with a USB port is suitable.
In this case, the rigs themselves are connected to the router with the help of a cable. Inexpensive devices have 4-6 ports. This will be enough for 40-50 video cards, if there are 10 GPUs in a rig.
Tips for connecting to the farm
In order not to lose 5-10% of income due to stale-ball, it is recommended to spend more time choosing an operator, setting up and testing the Internet. When the miner has just assembled the rig and started to look at the offers of providers, it is worth buying SIM cards of all companies at once. Testing is carried out within 12-24 hours. It is necessary to check the speed, the percentage of stale for this period. It is recommended to choose an operator, when working with which there were no late balloons or their number did not exceed 2% of the total number.
It is also desirable to disconnect extraneous devices from the router for mining farms. For a home computer, smartphones it is worth creating a separate local network.
Uninterrupted connection
It is worth considering that a wired connection is always better than Wi-Fi. It is less likely to have failures. Miners on forums sometimes write about the fact that the rig suddenly stops “seeing” Wi-Fi. As a result of such problems, the devices work in vain, not bringing profit, but consuming electricity.
If the equipment is not nearby, it is recommended to put a Wi-Fi outlet. It differs from the traditional one in that the user can control it from an app. Such an outlet will come in handy if you need to reboot the router.
Conclusions
During the creation of a mining farm, you need to consider not only the hashrate of video cards, but also the stability, the speed of the Internet. If the equipment will be connected to a poor-quality network, then even a top-end Bitmain Antminer L7 will be unprofitable due to late orbs. For normal operation of the devices requires at least 10 Kbps, but it is better to provide 20-30 Kbps to exclude problems caused by low connection speeds.
Frequently Asked Questions
📌 Is mining on 2G relevant?
No. ISPs are phasing it out. Besides, the speed of 2G is only 40Kbps, this will be enough for 3-4 GPUs at most.
📢 What is the bandwidth of satellite internet?
In Russia, this type of connection is 4-8 MB/s. Because of its high speed, it should be used only by those who live outside the city, where it is impossible to access the Internet by other means.
🔔 What to do if sometimes the farm disconnects from the network?
It is recommended to install Watchdog – a chip that will automatically reboot the device when there is no connection.
🔥 What to do if there are not enough router ports?
Owners of large farms buy switches. They have many ports, so up to 10-40 devices are connected to the router.
⚡ How can I check the connection speed?
Miners use Speedtest, YourNetSpeed.
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Author: Saifedean Ammous, an expert in cryptocurrency economics.
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