This guide will take you through the process of setting up your Helium Mobile Hotspot Outdoor. Please follow the setup steps carefully and report any problems to our support team.
Setup Requirements
What’s in the Box?
Outdoor Helium Mobile Hotspot
Mounting brackets and screws
Step 1. Unbox the Helium Mobile Hotspot Outdoor
Your Hotspot’s box has a QR code and network credentials necessary to connect to the Hotspot during later setup steps.
We recommend that you save the box or take a picture of the QR code. The QR code is also available on the back of the Hotspot, however, it might be hard to access it after the Hotspot is installed at its final location.
Note: Make sure to keep your QR code safe, and do not share it until you have had a chance to onboard your hotspot.
Step 2. Power up your Hotspot
Connect one end of the outdoor Cat6 cable to the Hotspot and another end to the PoE port of the PoE injector.
Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to an available LAN port on your Wi-Fi router, and the other end to the LAN port of the PoE injector.
If everything is connected properly, the light indicator on the Hotspot will turn solid blue.
Step 3. Firmware Upgrade
The Helium Mobile Hotspot may need to be updated to the latest firmware.
This process is automatic and will take a few minutes. During the upgrade, the LED light will turn from solid blue to blinking blue.
After the update is complete, the LED light will turn off, indicating an automatic reboot of the Hotspot. Once the reboot is complete, the LED light will turn blinking blue followed by a solid blue which indicates that the Hotspot is ready to operate.
Please ensure that the LED light is solid blue before moving to the next step.
Step 4. Head to Helium World & create or login to your account
If this is not your first Hotspot, simply sign in to your Helium World account.
If you are new to the Helium ecosystem, please create a Helium World account. Helium World serves as the management platform for all of your deployments. Through this platform, you can deploy new hotspots, manage existing deployments, process reward claims, and access additional network management tools.
Step 5. Begin Hotspot Deployment
Click on Deploy Hotspot:
Select your Hotspot type:
Step 6. Scan your Hotspot QR Code
Scan your Helium Mobile Hotspot QR code, this code can be found directly on the back of your outdoor hotspot.
Make sure you enable camera permissions so that Helium World can access your camera. Alternatively if you do not have a camera you can select Manually Enter Code
Here you will be requested to enter your factory Hotspot SSID + Password, which should be available directly under the QR code.
Step 7. Confirm your location
Select your hotspots deployment location, you can simply enter the address the hotspot is being deployed at, and then adjust the pin manually for a precision deployment:
Step 8. Set the Direction of your Hotspot
Hotspots provide coverage from their front face. Adjust your Hotspots Azimuth until it matches the direction that your hotspot is facing in its deployed position.
Step 9. Wait for the onboarding process to complete
Onboarding can take a few minutes, please wait patiently until you see the Onboarding Complete notice and then proceed to the next step to wrap up your deployment.
Step 10. Congratulations, you are onboarded!
Once onboarding is complete, and you’ve proceeded to the last step you are all good to go! It can take a few minutes for the Hotspot itself to appear on the network and within your Dashboard.
Step 11. Mounting your Hotspot
Now that your Hotspot is fully set up and configured, find a place where it can provide the best coverage. Here are some tips and best practices:
Face Users
Hotspots create coverage from their front face. Signals can pass through glass, but trees, buildings, and other objects may block or reflect them.
Line-of-Sight
Mount your Hotspot higher to avoid signal loss from structures like trees or buildings. Remember to tilt down the higher you place it.
Use the Mount
Mount your Hotspot on a pole. Use the included mount to allow you to direct your signal towards its users.
Step 12. Testing Connectivity
Helium Mobile cellular service subscribers with their Wi-Fi profile configured on their devices can connect to the Helium Mobile Hotspot when in range.
Please allow at least three minutes after successful Hotspot registration for the device to be ready to start broadcasting the “Helium” Wi-Fi network.
Disconnect and disable auto join to any Wi-Fi network in the same area.
Do not use password provided on the box or back of the Hotspot to connect to Helium Mobile network. It should be used only during the Hotspot onboarding.
Your phone should automatically join the Helium Mobile network. If this doesn’t happen automatically, please reinstall Helium Mobile app.