Syncing of hotspots & Instasync

Introduction

When you first plug in your Hotspot, it will do a process called Syncing. This means, the Hotspot syncs to the latest state of the blockchain. You can check the latest Helium Block height in Explorer as well as in the Dashboard. 

Your miner will now load snapshots of the blockchain and try to get as close as possible to the Helium Block height. This process can take anywhere from 60 minutes to 3 days. More on that later.

When is my Hotspot fully synced?

Your Hotspot is considered fully synced as soon as it is roughly 200 blocks or less behind the blockchain. Please check this example below for better understanding:

	EXAMPLE 1	EXAMPLE 2
Helium Block Height	1234500	1234500
Hotspot Block Height	1234380	1210000
Is it synced?	YES, fully synced	NO, still syncing

Can I increase sync speed?

Every time your hotspot reboots, and on first boot, it will attempt to do a socalled Instasync. This is a feature we released to make the syncing time as low as possible.

Detailed explaination: the instasync script will try to grab the latest snapshot from public sources that is roughly 240 - 480 blocks away from the Blockchain and it will load it into the miner software. This instasync takes a while (anywhere from 15 - 45 minutes) and it is possible that during that time, you will not see any height information in the dashboard. But after that, your hotspot should be close to synced or already fully synced.

Can I force Instasync?

You can also force an Instasync directly from the dashboard, there is an action button for that. But this is not recommended in the first days of use. Please check the cases below to learn when to use Instasync.

Cases where Instasync should be used

• If you unplugged your Hotspot and plugged it back again and it is not synced after 4 hours
  Reminder: Your internet connection could also be an issue here! Please double-check that your internet connection is okay and if possible, use the most direct connection to your internet router as possible.
• If your internet connection was lost for 2 hours or more

Cases where Instasync should NOT be used

• If you started your Hotspot for the first time. The Hotspot will do an instasync on its own, and forcing it can lead to problems.
• If the Hotspot Height is 200 blocks or less behind the Helium Block Height.