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I clicked through to the trial and in the FAQ it says: Will you use my broadband? Yes, we will connect to your broadband to communicate with the units. We'll

I clicked through to the trial and in the FAQ it says: Will you use my broadband? Yes, we will connect to your broadband to communicate with the units. We'll directly connect to your router to avoid WiFi interference and most of the time the unit will simply be sending some monitoring information (temperatures / fan speeds etc) back to base, so you shouldn't notice any impact. We'll occasionally perform speed tests, and limit any larger uploads and downloads to a fraction of this so we'll never use too much of your bandwidth. We'll also schedule these overnight so it shouldn't affect your daytime speeds. Our intention is that you won't notice - one of the things we'll be doing during the trial is getting your feedback on if we've achieved this. In the future we plan to install a dedicated fibre or 4G/5G connection for the heata unit.

jklinger410 4y ago
Wouldn't this destroy my upload speed? Isn't running a regular server (not home media server) rate limited/outright banned in the TOS of most home internet service providers?
- mike-cardwell 4y ago
  > Wouldn't this destroy my upload speed? They specifically say that they run speed tests and then restrict their usage to a fraction of your speed. So no. > Isn't running a regular server (not home media server) rate limited/outright banned in the TOS of most home internet service providers? Don't think of it as a server. Think of it as a PC that is running all the time. These TOS you're thinking of are usually to prevent you running services that can be connected to like web servers and smtp servers. For all we know, this machine doesn't listen for incoming connections and just makes outgoing connections. Just like your phones browser is doing. Your phone isn't a server banned by your ISP's TOS is it?
Alupis 4y ago
How useful is a compute node that can't use the internet? I suspect the entire truth is not being told here - not to mention this is in direct contradiction to what the article author claimed. And if it does use the internet, it's now using your internet (and presumably your electricity) for free. Seems heavily lopsided in the company's favor, geared towards selling suckers on feeling good about "helping" the environment when you are really just helping some company make money.
- mike-cardwell 4y ago
  > How useful is a compute node that can't use the internet It doesn't say that. It says that it will use your broadband connection. It says most of the time it will just be for monitoring and speed tests, and it also says that larger uploads/downloads will be limited to a fraction of your bandwidth and they'll try to run it overnight. To me, this says they'll send/retrieve datasets to be processed on the server, slowly, mostly overnight. > It is in direct contradiction to what the author of the article wrote Yes. I don't know why he wrote it, but if you click through to the trial on https://www.heata.co/trial https://www.heata.co/trial and scroll down to the FAQ, it is right there. > And if it does use the internet, it's now using your internet (and presumably your electricity) for free I think maybe you need to read the FAQ. They see how much electricity they're using by installing a meter for this specific purpose, and they pay you for it.
  - Alupis 4y ago
    > It doesn't say that. It says that it will use your broadband connection. It says most of the time it will just be for monitoring and speed tests, and it also says that larger uploads/downloads will be limited to a fraction of your bandwidth and they'll try to run it overnight. This doesn't seem very useful at all. Other than to get feel-good enviro points, and even then it's still highly questionable. If it can only use a small fraction of your bandwidth, and it can only do it at night - then who is this thing for? What kind of profitable compute keeps it occupied all day and only checks in at night? I highly suspect the entire truth is not being told here with this idea. It sounds like a half-baked college student idea more than a professional operation.
    - mike-cardwell 4y ago
      Some jobs require a large amount of cpu and a small amount of data. I imagine that is what this system is for. Ultimately, it will be costing them money to create this hardware, install it in your house, and then pay you for the electricity it uses. It seems likely to me that they'll have considered a way of making money from it. [edit] I investigated further and one of the things they do on these machines is 3D rendering.

jklinger410 4y ago

Wouldn't this destroy my upload speed? Isn't running a regular server (not home media server) rate limited/outright banned in the TOS of most home internet service providers?

mike-cardwell 4y ago
> Wouldn't this destroy my upload speed? They specifically say that they run speed tests and then restrict their usage to a fraction of your speed. So no. > Isn't running a regular server (not home media server) rate limited/outright banned in the TOS of most home internet service providers? Don't think of it as a server. Think of it as a PC that is running all the time. These TOS you're thinking of are usually to prevent you running services that can be connected to like web servers and smtp servers. For all we know, this machine doesn't listen for incoming connections and just makes outgoing connections. Just like your phones browser is doing. Your phone isn't a server banned by your ISP's TOS is it?

Alupis 4y ago

How useful is a compute node that can't use the internet? I suspect the entire truth is not being told here - not to mention this is in direct contradiction to what the article author claimed. And if it does use the internet, it's now using your internet (and presumably your electricity) for free. Seems heavily lopsided in the company's favor, geared towards selling suckers on feeling good about "helping" the environment when you are really just helping some company make money.

mike-cardwell 4y ago
> How useful is a compute node that can't use the internet It doesn't say that. It says that it will use your broadband connection. It says most of the time it will just be for monitoring and speed tests, and it also says that larger uploads/downloads will be limited to a fraction of your bandwidth and they'll try to run it overnight. To me, this says they'll send/retrieve datasets to be processed on the server, slowly, mostly overnight. > It is in direct contradiction to what the author of the article wrote Yes. I don't know why he wrote it, but if you click through to the trial on https://www.heata.co/trial https://www.heata.co/trial and scroll down to the FAQ, it is right there. > And if it does use the internet, it's now using your internet (and presumably your electricity) for free I think maybe you need to read the FAQ. They see how much electricity they're using by installing a meter for this specific purpose, and they pay you for it.
- Alupis 4y ago
  > It doesn't say that. It says that it will use your broadband connection. It says most of the time it will just be for monitoring and speed tests, and it also says that larger uploads/downloads will be limited to a fraction of your bandwidth and they'll try to run it overnight. This doesn't seem very useful at all. Other than to get feel-good enviro points, and even then it's still highly questionable. If it can only use a small fraction of your bandwidth, and it can only do it at night - then who is this thing for? What kind of profitable compute keeps it occupied all day and only checks in at night? I highly suspect the entire truth is not being told here with this idea. It sounds like a half-baked college student idea more than a professional operation.
  - mike-cardwell 4y ago
    Some jobs require a large amount of cpu and a small amount of data. I imagine that is what this system is for. Ultimately, it will be costing them money to create this hardware, install it in your house, and then pay you for the electricity it uses. It seems likely to me that they'll have considered a way of making money from it. [edit] I investigated further and one of the things they do on these machines is 3D rendering.