Bobber Firmware Update
When a Bobber firmware update takes place, there is no impact to PoC activities because the Helium Miner software is not affected and therefore continues running throughout the OTA update.
Helium Software Update
When a Helium miner software update takes place, the current miner running on the hotspot has to be stopped and replaced. Depending on the release version, there will sometimes be important changes that occur when starting the new version. During this process, PoC will not work normally until the update has processed and the Helium miner software has started again.
While this firmware upgrade action is completed within minutes, as of 8/1/2022 there are a total of over 400,000 Bobber miners on the network. It is normal to expect a few hours of low activities, however, we try to minimize the impact of this by releasing OTAs in batches rather than updating all Bobber miners at one time. Given the current size and continued growth of the Helium network, software updates will inevitably result in fluctuations in PoC activity and occasional downtime.