The crypto industry continues to actively develop, attracting the interest of new users. Many people want to engage in cryptocurrency mining because they see the value of Bitcoin and popular altcoins rising every day.
Mining is a truly unique way to earn money, since you can get your profit without any investments at all, and with a minimum expenditure of free time. Beginners are wondering what Internet speed is needed for mining? The extraction of digital currency is based on the processing of gigabytes of information; in order to give a specific answer to this question, you need to carefully study the features of the mined coin.
Mining speed depends on the Internet, but not directly. That is, if the Internet speed is 500 MB/s, this does not mean that in a few hours you will get 10-20 Bitcoins. There is a relationship, but it manifests itself somewhat differently.
Remember that only generated keys for already found blocks are sent to the server, and the processed information remains on the computer. Therefore, even a slow Internet is quite suitable for mining, the main thing is to have powerful equipment.
The number of megabytes “consumed” by the farm does not matter
In 2022, any network provider operates at an unlimited tariff, without limiting the flow of traffic. The price of such services starts from 150 UAH per month in Ukraine and from 100 rubles in the Russian Federation. Any “free” Internet at 64kb/sec will have a low ping, or stability, which precisely affects the quality of mining.
Internet speed plays a secondary role during mining.
There are no mining tasks that depend on network speed. Essentially, video cards execute equations pre-loaded into the computer’s memory without downloading code from external servers.
The DAG file is created but not downloaded.
Before mining starts, the video card generates a special registry that contains information about correct and incorrect blocks. It is called a DAG file, and before mining begins, it is created according to a previously obtained algorithm from the blockchain network, without requiring downloading.
The connection is used for reconciliation with the blockchain.
During calculations, the size of the data received by the video card is within 17 MB. This could be a verification of sent “shares” or hash sums of received cryptocurrency blocks - a fragile procedure and demanding on signal stability.
Related equipment that will also be required for the farm
Since we have already found out that for mining Bitcoin, Ethereum, or even chia, which has already managed to make a fair amount of noise, speed data does not matter, but what is important is that the signal is stable and its flow is not interrupted, it would be nice to talk about the basic a set of accompanying gadgets for your farm.
Naturally, we mean equipment that concerns the Internet. For example, if you use more than one ASIC to mine cryptocurrency, then you cannot do without a network communicator (from 500 rubles and above).
In addition, it is also advisable to acquire a wifi router, with which you can also quickly connect your laptop to the Internet and carry out all the necessary farm settings, as well as take measurements, thereby identifying potential malfunctions of video cards or ASIC miners, right on the spot.
Perhaps the best, inexpensive one (in our subjective opinion) is the Xiaomi Mi WiFi Router 4C Global router. If your installations for cryptocurrency mining are located close to your home or workplace, then it has performed double duty for you. In a situation where a router is purchased for local purposes, then it is better not to spend extra money and limit yourself to cheaper options.
What Internet speed is needed for a mining farm?
Technically speaking, the farm will be able to continue mining at 10 kbps per video card. The Internet speed received through a telephone cable or 3G modem is completely sufficient. There are no problems with the farm getting online and continuing production.
The signal must be stable.
For example, in rural areas, a 3G modem that receives barely one stick is no good for mining. The statement is also true for the telephone cable, through which the provider sends a signal once a day between 12 and 16 hours of the day. The farm needs a stable signal to operate.
25 Mb/sec is enough for everyone.
1 MB/sec is also not a problem, but be prepared for the occasional problem with mining. Network speed has no effect on the “growth” or “decrease” of hashrate; the optimal level would be 25 Mb/sec, which is enough for four rigs.
Start mining with uninterrupted network access.
Before you start mining, get an uninterrupted provider and receive a bank account from him to pay for the service. Any operators in Ukraine or Russia are suitable: Kyivstar, Yota, MTS, Beeline or any local network access service provider. You will need a current account to pay bills for the farm, which is located in the middle of nowhere.
Is the cheapest rate suitable?
The most important thing is how much data the subscriber can transmit and receive. If the tariff is unlimited, then don’t worry, it will be quite enough for mining. However, if the provider provides a limited amount of information, the process may be interrupted for a certain period of time.
It is better to choose a cheap tariff, but with unlimited and the greatest stability.
How much internet will an industrial mining farm need?
What is an industrial mining farm anyway? When is it considered “industrial”? Let's try to figure it out. Here's what we know.
An industrial mining farm combines many video cards.
There is no specific number, just as there are no standards that could classify a farm as an industrial one. Conventionally, a farm can be called “industrial” when it contains 2 thousand video card miners and occupies a separate warehouse. There are also secondary aspects, for example, when five or six ventilation shafts are allocated for the cooling system. Or, as an alternative, separate power panels for the farm, each 20 kilowatts.
An industrial mining farm will need a channel of 4 Gb/sec.
Theoretically, a farm of 2000 farms will need a channel of 10 kb/sec for each video card. In total, we have a consumption of 20,000 kb/sec, or 20 MB/sec, for the entire farm. In practice, for industrial farms, channels several gigabytes wide are connected, the most optimal of which is 4 GB. This is done due to the number of devices and the accompanying network load, which a channel of 20 Mb/sec cannot handle due to technical limitations.
Amount of data consumed
Review and configuration of the D-Link Dir-320 modem
The most common tariff today is unlimited. Few people ask how much a process should consume. These are small numbers and depend on how long the equipment worked and how many devices are connected to production. It is even possible to mine via a 3G modem, since the mobile connection speed is sufficient.
Any person who makes money this way can calculate the amount of data consumed by his farm. For example, a farm of five video cards will use no more than 120 megabits. It turns out that the required speed is 0.001 Megabits per second. Experience shows that a connection of three Megabits per second is sufficient for one medium-sized farm.
What is ping and why does it affect a mining rig?
Ping is the delay between the transmission of information within the Internet communication network. For example, you sent a letter by pigeon mail, it took 2 weeks, which means that the ping of such a “data packet” was 2 weeks. The statement is also true for signal transmission over a copper cable.
Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms). The higher it is, the worse it is; for example, a ping of 120 ms is significantly worse than a ping of 20 ms. The difference is a full 100 ms. A mining farm can easily handle a ping of 100 ms, but if the network constantly fluctuates, then problems may arise.
Ping should be stable.
Time delays during signal transmission must be systemic in nature. For example, when, when checking, the ping is at a stable level from 99 to 102 ms, then this is good. Conversely, when the ping fluctuates between 76 and 150, this is bad. The signal must be stable, even if the delays are high.
What does ping depend on?
- From the speed of the Internet . If the speed is insufficient, packets will arrive with a delay. Since we decided that the speed should not be too high, this indicator does not greatly affect the ping. Increasing the Internet speed from 50 Mbit/s to 300 Mbit/s will also not affect the ping.
- From the stability of the Internet . Any connection interruptions lead to an increase in ping.
- From the remoteness of the server . The most popular pools provide multiple servers on different continents to increase the number of users around the world.
The question of what kind of internet is needed for mining has been sorted out. Now let's move on to connecting the miner to the Internet.
How to measure the ping of your mining rig?
During mining, miners issue a ping to the farm between the data on accepted and unaccepted shares. For example, in the screenshot, production occurs at the level of 300 ms, which is not good. With a high ping, like the friend in the screenshot, there is a risk that some of the mined blocks will not be accepted by the blockchain system.
Ping checking can be done in two ways.
The first is through the website www.speedtest.net. Start testing by clicking Go, it will take a couple of minutes to check. The site will provide results for connection speeds and latency levels when using your current provider.
The second method of checking ping is software, through the CMD console. To open the console, press Win (⊞) + R, write CMD and press Enter. In the black window that appears, enter the text “ping google.com -t” without quotes. Wait a couple of minutes, then press CTRL + C, this will interrupt the console ping check. Next, there will be rows of text in the window where we are interested in the number next to “time=”. Ideally, the numbers should run smoothly, for example, “56, 57, 55, 58, 55, 55.”
When the ping is above 250, it’s time to change provider.
And vice versa, when the ping jumps from side to side like a frightened mountain goat, this is also a reason to change the provider.
What do ping spikes look like? Like this: “55, 57, 56, 120, 22
, 55, 54.” A sharp transition to “120, 22” indicates that the signal from the provider is unreliable.
Cloud mining – salvation or a pointless investment
Quite a lot of people prefer to outsource the mining of digital coins to specialized organizations. Constantly growing cryptocurrency rates make renting capacity more and more profitable, and such a step has a number of undeniable advantages:
- does not break;
- does not heat the room;
- you don’t have to worry about bulky structures in the room;
- no complicated settings;
- there are no high costs for electricity;
- there is no need to search for and connect your power;
Don't forget about the disadvantages:
- lack of a video card at your disposal (no need to purchase TOP);
- no possibility to resell.
Cloud mining fulfills its most important purpose perfectly if you approach the process as competently as possible. It is only important to remember that even when renting from the best capacity suppliers, it is up to you to set up the system for the most efficient extraction of money.
Reducing the ping to the mining pool server
First, let's look at the scenarios why the ping fluctuates from side to side or grows by leaps and bounds.
The provider saves on wires and switches.
As a result, you get high ping and an unstable signal. Changing the operator will cost up to $20, and you won’t need to re-route the cables. High ping occurs mainly in regions and district areas, where you will need to purchase a 4G mobile communication package or set up satellite Internet.
Suboptimal connection to the pool.
There will be experiments here, since reducing ping is based on
choosing the optimal
network route. Like the traveling salesman problem, only in the case of mining you will need to choose the closest server that is available.
We check the ping to different pool mirrors.
You will need to perform the operations manually; essentially, you take the address of the mining pool, open the CMD console and run the command -ping insert.pool.address -t. After that, watch what happens. If the ping is high, then try changing connection locations.
Ping is tied to geography.
Let's say Mikhail lives in St. Petersburg. It will have low ping if it works with European servers. This is good. At the same time, if he tries to connect to Asian servers, his ping will increase and the farm will produce more broken blocks.
On the Hashalot pool, the server is selected automatically.
The balancer takes into account the geolocation of the farm and selects a route with minimal delays. The procedure occurs automatically; there is no need to select the mirror manually.
Ensuring smooth operation - 3 steps
Achieving uninterrupted operation is not as easy as it seems if you are not a player of online games. Such users immediately notice the loss of connection, just like mining. The Internet requirements of the average user are not so severe: while a page is being read or a message is being written, the connection can be interrupted several times and no one notices.
Let’s move from words to practice and create an uninterrupted Internet channel for mining in three steps:
- We connect several providers
We will tell you more about whether Internet speed affects mining when working through 3G/4G networks in the section on ping optimization, but now we must make at least two wired connections.
If possible, choose internal routing; a cable on an external wall rarely “lives” for more than a year, given the quality of the components and the not very direct hands of installers of domestic Internet providers.
Ideally, the cable channel should look like this:
Flexible covers on the cable connectors are required, as shown in the figure, and on the provider’s side too! They cost a penny, but without them the connection quickly becomes loose and becomes a source of constant data transfer errors. And the network equipment, when setting up the Internet for mining, will be engaged in correcting these errors, instead of working normally.
- We purchase a router with several WAN ports
Manually choosing which channel is needed for mining when the connection is lost will not be the best, and most importantly, a slow solution. For these purposes, special equipment is needed that will monitor channels in real time and switch in a split second.
Here are two fairly common models from well-known manufacturers:
- Uninterruptible power supply
Make sure that there is no incident when the farm continues to operate quietly from the generator, but the Internet mining traffic is at zero because there is nowhere to turn on the router.
Selecting the connection type for the mining farm
If you focus on reliability, then you should strive for fiber optic cable. But this is an ideal that is unnecessary and unattainable in mining conditions. Another question is receiving a signal via twisted pair or mobile Internet.
We connect the farm via twisted pair cable or a good router.
In terms of reliability, twisted pair is superior to mobile Internet, but you can continue mining through 4G modems. The choice of connection type depends more on the location of the farm. For example, in a city apartment, connect the farm via twisted pair and a switch. A mining farm “on the range” in the forests is connected via satellite communications or 4G mobile Internet.
What type of connection is needed
What are the differences between 3G and 4G networks: features, advantages and disadvantages
An unlimited connection using the 3 or 4G standard, standard wired Internet or any other tariffs will do. Speed is not as important as the number of possible megabytes downloaded or sent. The user will need to download the wallet and synchronize it with Blockchain, which will require downloading gigabytes of data. If the tariff has restrictions, then at a certain point the process will be interrupted.
Important! You need a stable connection without established traffic limits.
The answer to the question whether fast Internet is needed for mining is a negative answer. More important is the amount of traffic and ping.
How to choose a router for a mining farm
Anyone with more than one antenna. For example, from TP-Link or Mikrotik.
A router is not a router.
Let's separate the concepts; here we are talking about a router that is designed to transmit a signal via Wi-Fi. It can be confused with a switch or router; these are the devices that will be needed to assemble a mining farm “on the go.” They are used to create local infrastructure, for example, connecting several farms into one network.
Router, front view, model with antennas. There is excess in a home mining rig.
The speed of the router for mining is secondary.
Any router capable of maintaining a speed of 50 Mb/sec or higher is suitable for a mining farm. The farm won't need more than that.
Router with eight ports - for farm development.
If you want to expand your farm, you will need more network ports to connect new rigs. Take with reserve, for example, a router with 8 ports is suitable for assembling eight separate rigs at home.
Reduced traffic during cryptocurrency mining
A reinforced concrete structure along the signal path can significantly reduce mining traffic, especially Ethereum:
When buying modems, choose stationary models with an external antenna, they are initially more powerful and can correct most data transmission errors, otherwise, when you receive bills, you will be surprised at how much traffic is needed for mining.
If there is no line of sight to the base station, connect an external antenna for a reliable channel.
In any business, nothing is more important than the little things: what Internet speed will be sufficient for mining, and ensuring reliable communication must be taken into account when developing a business plan.
Using Watchdog Watchdogs to Restart a Farm
Watchdog timers come in two types.
There is a special type of software that is designed to remotely monitor the status of a farm. These are timer programs; they can monitor what is happening on the computer and respond to events, provided that they have been configured in advance. And there are hardware watchdog timers.
Mining uses hardware timers.
There is a small memory chip on a printed circuit board with a USB plug. It can be reflashed using a programmer or special software for a computer. You can embed your own program onto the memory chip, indicating, for example, special conditions.
Timers serve as a farm monitoring tool.
For example, a situation where video cards in Riga mine ether. Something went wrong in the cooling system and the temperature of the graphics chips rose to 90, the VRM warmed up to 140, the memory banks hit 97 degrees. The farm is on the verge of a flash-and-noise performance.
Conventionally, the timer “sees” the temperature and sends the farm to reboot or sleep. In the described scenario, the optimal option would be to put the farm to sleep and send a notification via messenger or email to the farm owner’s email.
High hash rates and low temperatures!
Join the Hashalot channel in telegram - there we collect the most interesting materials about mining and crypto.
Modern mining methods
Mining today is presented in three variations, each of which has its own important advantages and disadvantages:
- PC. An outdated, low-profit option that requires fairly large financial investments in maintenance. The huge energy consumption here is combined with the need for large investments in cooling, and the volume of crypto mining is quite small.
- Farm. The same PC, only it uses a low-power 2-core processor and a small amount of RAM. All video cards (less than 4 the profit is almost not felt) are moved outside the system unit for better cooling. A well-built farm purely for mining can pay for itself in 5-6 months, after which it will bring a stable good profit.
- ASIC. Expensive installations for crypto mining, which are produced immediately in a ready-made version at the factory. The user only needs to make a few important software adjustments, after which all that remains is to start the equipment and enjoy the profits. The payback is significantly lower than the farm, and non-repairability completely excludes the use of such equipment by professionals.
An ASIC is specifically designed for a specific hashing algorithm and is of little use for other tasks.
The final required Internet speed for mining directly depends on the number of connected devices. Even if you use top-end equipment, it is unlikely that you will be able to go beyond the capabilities of an inexpensive 3G package.
