Bitcoin Forum

Anyone have more information than Bitmain has posted on their website yet? What they DO have posted is very uninformative and confusing.

https://www.antpool.com/user/antRouter.htm



 It DOES make me wonder if they intend to put WiFi (or some sort of wireless anyway) capability in their next generation miner(s).

Good find.  But Yes and No.  This looks to be just a wireless bridge.  The miner itself wouldn't to need to have wireless capabilities.

I wonder it also.Router consuming 2W power and it is miner too? I think it's only for solo mining 'cause they say payment is 25 btc to your wallet. But I'm confused too. No proper information anywhere. Or this is just one more "coming soon" option.

I wouldn't be too surprised if it doesn't actually have a mining chip inside, and instead just acts as a perpetual rental of a low hash rate from Bitmain's cloud offerings.  But hey, if they want to beat BitFury and/or 21, Inc. to the market with an 'IoT miner', more power to them :)

Instead of serious toys they work on TinkerToys?  If it indeed will mine I doubt pool options would be available and as said would be directed to Antpool or Hashnest.  Fun possibilities but there surely is a catch which benefits Bitmain.

But No actual specs on hashrate or if its self cooled.

Reading it I'm thinking the same thing.   I think it will have stats of regular miners pointed to antpool, but I think these routers look like "lotto" devices. 

Guess time will tell on that.

I really wish they provided more details on speed.  I think someone screwed up adding it early to site.

I find it interesting they show it in third pic talking about taking with you looking like a hotel.  So they are recommending it travel with you, interesting idea for a small miner.

I will be honest though I really don't want it as a main router.  I would love one to play with but chances are I would use as lotto device not use as main router.  Unless they really surprise me with a feature for having it in front of our miners.

would you pay 7k for that ?.



10 days for mining 1 KW mining for 7k + that is a dollar sigh now that means two things to me it cost 7k to buy or in 10 days you can make 7k . either way both are wrong or what fool will pay 7 k for some thing that won't do that in 10 days if it means that . lmao .

I think they mean it would be around 7k if you got a block with it.  So it's talking about possible reward, not cost I think.

Again I could be wrong but I'm thinking they are talking about it winning at "lotto" or solo mine with little device.

I know it just how it's worded to sell . it makes you think two things . I do hope so , but it does look cool.the real price might be a the price of one U3 but the catch you have to buy 20 .

 i think its more of a gimmick to get you to use the cloud mining.  not much hash with 2w and it needs to be linked to your antpool account.  so if they can see that the device is on,  they will keep the cloud mining rate of something tiny.  turn off the device or loose power and your cloud mining stops.  interesting way to pretend the device is an actual miner. 

or am i wrong?  does it actually do any mining at the hardware level?

maybe you right
what miner can do with 2 watt?

so lets go to q/a
    Q：It is the same with a normal router?
    A：They are the same except AntRouter can mine bitcoin. AntRouter has 3 operating modes: AP, PPPOE.

so it's clearly a router.  ;D


    Q：If I dug bitcoin, how much is the profit?
    A：The profit AntRouter can make is a whole "block", which includes all 25-26 bitcoins output from it.

so, while we buy it, same as we buy a lotto ticket..
this is new way to sell cloudmining. let see the mining stat :
    You have been mining for 0 days, 0% to achieve target!
    There are 0 miners dug 0 bitcoins,
    During the last 100 days in 9 valid miners.
    The amount is equivalent to the current exchange rate of $0!

so, its clearly linked to cloud mining  :D

Watching!

  ??? ??? ???

I doubt it will be able to replace the tplinks though.  They all run special firmware loaded on them.  I know my avalon 4.1's can use one. I don't see bitmain being worried if they work with my avalon 4.1's.

If they make it where I could plug in some usb sticks with it then I would love this device though.   So much is guessing hopefully they release more soon.

this could definitely work maybe its a way for them to get rid of the remaining chips from S1 and S2 units used in the U2 USB sticks by dumping them in something like a TP link router

How much does this thing cost?

I'm guessing 150 at the most maybe because it is a router that mines BTC and will be on all the time if it's in a home or business. my router is . i wonder if it will  run a tv cable off of it like the Verizon router if it can which i know it Polly can't i would replace my Verizon router with it and i would buy it for sure I want one but it depends on the price if i buy it or not and what the router part can do . I don't have a use for three routers I have two now but if I could replace both the Verizon and voyage router that would be awesome , but i sure it's a normal router with nothing special  other then it mines BTC.

I think that is way to much.  I see it competing with tplink nano's and a usb stick miner.  So 20 for tplink, and 25 or so for stick miner.  

I'm hoping to see this around 50.  I would guess though they will jack price some but 150 were talking about a lot bigger and more quality routers then a one usb plug and one Ethernet plug little box with a miner chip in it likely.

I hope so :) . and I hope we don't have to buy 20 of them then it's gonna cost more if we buy else were .

I agree I think $50-$75 max price

Yeah but they are selling it as a new gimmick product also the S1 chips use a lot of power so this has to have the latest chip in it but even if it was $20 for a USB miner and $20 for A cheap router that would be a fair price at $40

A new phase of mining is approaching.The S7 , the rooter, etc.

The rooter will give control to Bitmain (or her artificial intelligence) to control the BTC generation of the market while she owns less then 50%.It seems to be not only a rooter which mines.It seems to me Bitmain will give reward as long as our rooter is open and collects data for her.

I might have easily misunderstood and misinterpreted.My idea only depends on what I read and my interpret it for myself.

Today, data is money. Any company would pay signiciant money for a data base related to their sector.I am a sceptical person, I do not have a solid proof for what I have written.That is how I have interprited the info announced at Bitmain's site.

To have the knowledge will enable Bitmain to rule the market.To be their ally seems to be more beneficial untill another big actor enters the game.

I'm hoping our right on price as I want one for fun.   Only way I can see going much higher is if they tie it with some other product such as their cloud mining.

Guess time will tell.

It will definately be $150+ and just a novelty item.  Cool nonetheless, but eventually they won't find a market and they will be given away with coupons. :D

I still say not near the 150 mark.   A router and mining chip will be very very slim chance of selling unless they are throwing in some online hashing or something for that price. 

Really it's competing with tplink nano 20 dollars , powered hub 15 (more or less can be a lot more depending on hub), and a thumb stick miner 25 or so.  So you could build yourself for 60 for sure.  Even if you used a U3 on it a U3 is 20 dollars.

I don't think they will do that on price just to much.  On small thing's they have done where you have to order X amount (20 on U3's).  This I could see them doing.  I think they did it on those PSU switches to.

Personally, I think this is only slightly more useful that the BitFury mining light bulb. When I chose my most recent WiFi router I worried about things like range, throughput, configuration, reliability and all that boring stuff. Burdening it with any kind of BTC mining hardware would have been a complete waste of money and power. Whatever hardware is inside would be completely useless, from an economic point of view, long before I would want to replace the router. I don't expect to replace my router every 1, or even 3 years.

Quite frankly when I think of a router, I can think of at least a half dozen other companies that I would trust to make good router, before I would ever get to the name "Bitmain".

I actually hope they do produce this and see that they are NOT a router company.

I would agree it fit's in the area of fun mining, not roi mining most likely.  I'm hoping the usb port allows additional miners to hook to it.  Then it has router with chip in it, and can add thumb sticks to it.

But I will not be switching my netgear nighthawk for it an time.

So looks like it's going to have a BM1384 chip in it, part of their use up the old stuff, Global Dominance Strategy? Quote from Jihan Wu


So unclear if this is a single chip or more than one? Will of course be an easy change to move it up to BM1385 with increased Hash & lower Power. Not sure that I want a Router from Bitnmain, but it's an interesting alternative to a Stick Miner.


Rich

Sidehack has been able to do an AMAZING job with the BM1384 on his miner.   We can hope Bitmain will follow same strategy of getting the most out of the chip.  We won't know till release I guess on that.

They show a usb on the router.  I really hope it's running something where we can plug other stick miners into this usb.  To make it even more of a lotto type device.  But guess that is another we will see.

So now they have released spec's for the new chips...

0.25gh then at 2w, Lets say the router takes 0.5 to run leaving 1.5 for mining...

At 2w this is a 6gh always on miner, Mining at bitmains pool....

& as a solo device for us but if bitmain puts this on for themselves...

They could pool mine with it, Make us solo mine with it but as its pool mined for them...

They only have to pay a miner running a R1 when & if they hit a block.....

Imagine being able to hit ur own pool with 6gh x ???? miners (???? would be determined roughly by how many miners on average bitmain has sold per unit...  ie they sold 1000 S1's 10,000 S3's etc & average that out across all miners sold to date..)

Lets say for arguments sake they sold on average across all miners 100,000 units

100,000 units x 6 gh is = 600,000gh all pointed at there own pool on top of there on units & managed farms...

This might not sound like much & my figures may understate this by miles (U never know - Well bitmain does)

This extra hash for nothing is worth something, They don't have to pay for power & to top that off they prob collect the fee's that come off the top...

Now if CK can run his solo pool collecting 0.5% off the top of any coin earnt then if bitmain takes all the fee's off the top & only pays the block coins, Then this will make them a tidy sum, esp if u take into consideration the block halving & going into the future fee's going up & up...

Any other thoughts??

We are still to be told the exact modes of use that will be possible? My guess is that you will be able to set it up however you want, Pool, Solo etc. The key to success will be how it's priced and how it's marketed. I suspect if they tried to tie it to their Pool or make it a Solo only Lotto device someone would just come up with an alternative firmware to open it up.

Rich

I think this be fine until the R1 actually gets some reviews AS A ROUTER, and then the wheels will come off. The Bitcoin "add on" won't save them if the actual router stuff is weak or unstable. When you wife can't use her tablet, or your son's  Xbox  won't connect rom the other end of the house, the Bitcoin "feature" will look pretty silly.

If somebody in marketing at Bitmain is projecting 100K units for it's life, they are going to be sadly disappointed at review time when there are 50K unsold units on the shelves. The Internet router business has very little to do with Bitcoin and there  are dozens of other manufacturers that can probably beat them on features, marketing, distribution, and costs. Netgear, Cisco, Asus and others are going to send Bitmain back to school in a big hurry. Sure they will sell hundreds of R1's to geeky Bitcoin enthusiasts, and that will be it.

Just my opinion of course.

Thanks for the education kingolex. In general though I think my comments still apply. Their competition will still be pretty fierce and well entrenched. Maybe the "Bitcoin hook" will tip a few sales their way, but I still think that the networking aspects and features will limit their ability to sell R1's. I wouldn't plan on there being an R2 once folks get the taste of the R1 for a year.

Firmware and dozens of different manufacturers plague this router field.  Who has ever bought that couple hundred dollar router only to find it connects slower than your previous one?  It's definately not an easy field to be in and not as easy as Bitmain thinks.  They better get their support staff ready.  Too many variables plague the wireless standard.

I feel that this one is either going to fall into the category of an inspired innovation, or a dismal failure? It all depends on what their objective is and then how well it is executed, priced & marketed.

It obviously falls into the same category as the BitFury Lightbulb and what intrigues me is the motivation behind these distractions? I can only speculate that it is an attempt to get Bitcoin mining to the general public? If that is the case the Lightbulb is the lower risk in terms of functionality, however I can see the logic of a router as there is more room to play with and it simplifies the internet access.

Ideally you would want to come up with a product that either sells at the same price as the item it includes but with the added value of a miner, at a lower price because of the value to the supplier of getting large volumes into the market, or at a higher price because of the perceived value by the customer. What I do feel however is that unless these types of product are sold in very high volumes there is very little point to them.

So if I was doing one of these type of products the obvious one is a Fan Heater. Use some older technology chips and sell it as being free to run.... So for the moment I will run with dismal failure... Let's hope there is some hidden secret not yet revealed :)


Rich

I think it will be just a fun toy for miners.  I'm not sure they will really buy for using as a router. I know it won't compare to my nighthawk router.  So I won't be using it as a main router.

My biggest hope is still that it runs stick miners through usb port and not just a charger there.   I think if it mined a little and could plug in stick miners it would be a nice device to fool around with.

While the "Fan Heater" almost makes sense, it's got huge drawbacks:

1) None of the heaters I have seen have Internet connectivity. This will be an added cost of the "Bitcoin Heater" that's got to get paid for somewhere. Beside serious amounts of electricity, a miner needs Internet, or it's just a useless brick. The router has that for "free" (i.e. it's already present for the normal function). Neither heaters, nor light bulbs, do.

2) While ASIC's, and surrounding electronics, can produce plenty of heat, it's an uneconomical way to do so. A few feet of nichrome (or whatever is better today) has got to be dirt cheap compared to an ASIC, by several orders of magnitude. Heater manufactures are a very mature bunch, and I'll bet they have margins that are pretty small. It's hard to see what the market will be for an electric heater that is way more expensive than an existing one (say $50-100 currently).

I should probably just shut up and let the market render it's verdict on the value of a "Bitcoin Router" or a "Bitcoin Heater".

The only hope is tplink nano has 2 versions.  One has regular usb port other does not. The tplink nano with the regular usb port was able to run openwrt.

Avalon took advantage of this and made a version that tplink nano with usb port could run their 4.1's I know of (could have done others not sure on that).  But Avalon showed it could be done on using a router to run gear.

I'm hoping bitmain will do this, but I doubt it.  I have a feeling it's a charging port.   I hope to be wrong.

And as far as my nighthawk router I was blown away.  It is pretty much a computer in that thing.  I was able to combine 2 networks I had split up as the routers had trouble with all the devices.   Also could handle gigabit internet so very happy there.  I had to upgrade for my internet upgrade.

https://i.imgur.com/VLvpB2F.png (https://i.imgur.com/VLvpB2F.png)

Very interestin has U3 like box.  How did you manage to get tis pic? I'm not seeing it on site.

whoops.  source (it's in the pic but I get most people don't hang out there): @笛笛-AntMiner weibo; http://www.weibo.com/5108923240/CBSYcvmCJ

Judging by the prongs, it should be a fairly compact package :)

I use a tplink mini router in client mode for each group of miners I have in a different area.  It's way easier and cleaner than running Ethernet everywhere.  They effectively make your miner wireless.  These will be able to do the same while adding a tiny amount of hash. 

Hopefully Bitmain can add open source tie ins for developers to make these what the 21 comp should be.

Needs to be $50 or less.

I agree on it should be 50 or less.  But I think chances are 75-100 is my rough guess.   They tend to price things higher.   

It truly is nothing special though a tplink mini and one of sidehacks compacs is what this is competing with.

Looks like the Router is hatching.

http://www.slotforum.com/forums/uploads/1442956960/gallery_2150_2322_94782.jpg (http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=si&img=73522)

https://www.bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=00020150915040859863u4Bgg9SX069F

However at only 5.5GH/S that sounds like a BM1384 at 100MHz.

Rich

I think there was a screw up on cost.  I wonder the same it looks very possible to be cost.   

The part about only 10 for international sales makes me also wonder if they are going to be selling in packs of 10.   On U3's they have kept a high min order.   So I wonder if 10 is their number for R1.

As far as speed unless it allows overclock sidehacks compac can get 3x the speed they advertise on R1.

sorry, internal, not international.
selling to their own team to check bugs.
it should never even be posted on the site
1kg!? it is 2.2 lb-pretty hefty for a router.

Interesting I did read wrong I word there.  Who is the internal sales for?  Seems like they would give them to internal for finding not sell it and pay for bugs.

I still wonder on price if that is close to their costs.   I really would like to get one to play with.    I don't think they will but I really hope that usb is not just charge that it could power a usb miner.   Even if they set it up where you could plug in U3 would be interesting.  But I'm guessing just charging port.

I would guess that idea here was to "sell" to folks within Bitmain (e.g. employees) at a small price and let them act as "Beta Testers". They spend a smallish amount of money, play with it, and if they find a problem, they get a .1 BTC reward. If this is correct, we shouldn't infer much of anything based on the price mentioned. It might be cost, or it might be less. It might be just enough that some folks can participate and do some testing. The price needs to be enough to make a person interested in doing it, but not too little.

This is consistent with the 'withdrawal" statement.

That R1 thingy is a waste of chips and resources.

current (but inactive on sales) link
https://www.bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=00020150915040859863u4Bgg9SX069F

$29 + shipping (on the CURRENT page link) for what it is IMO is badly overpriced.

 Even if you get a major break on shipping on a bulk buy, still a waste.

 Note that I don't have or use any form of wireless networking, never have never intend to, this thing might be worth more to someone that does.


 The $5ish price seems to have been specifically for internal beta-testing buyers, but even at THAT price it doesn't seem worthwhile to me.


 The actual "kiss of death" for me was the part about being FORCED to use the Antpool "solo" pool. That's just RUDE.


 The current link DOES indicate that the Antrouter can be used to run several U3s - so the USB port appears to be a connection, not just for charging.

Agreed, this is a NOGO for me as well.  User must be able to select pool or this will fail U3 style.

Defaulting to Antpool is fine; but Forcing it is unacceptable. 

You need to rethink this Bitmain.

Is it really inactive?  It shows you can add to cart on mine. 

But it is not on the page showing active products.

Not only is it forced to Antpool but it's also Solo Mining / Lottery Mode. Would have probably bought one to play with if it was configurable. Guess we will just have to wait for someone to hack the code.  :)

I think by using the earlier link we are actually getting to a product that is not really for sale yet? If only we wanted it.  :)

Rich

Yea earlier one for internal it did not sell.  But it now shows it being able to add to cart on - https://www.bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=00020150915040859863u4Bgg9SX069F

Did not proceed as I'm afraid to order with it not on main page.  Also ouch I got around 18 dollars on shipment cost when I tried to look at cart.   Almost cost of entire unit for shipping.

very interest machine and i think this will be the future of the bitcoin mining. It seems that is not a mining machine but a wifi hotspot with a mining chip inside

1. General Wireless Router

Keep the R1 plugged in at home for use as a standard wireless router, keeping your phones and computers connected to the internet at home or at the office.

2. Mini WiFi Access Point

Use the R1 on either a wired or wireless internet connection while on the go to create your own wireless access point.

3. High Speed USB Charger

Use the onboard battery to keep your devices charged while traveling. Suitable for charging mobile phones and tablet computers.

4. Bitcoin Mining Host

i like to buy a wifi access point and i think this machine is the best choice.

Shipment to the UK is actually more than the product cost. If you click to order at the moment it then shows Sold Out.

Rich

The shipping is crazy hopefully they get that worked out.  I really don't want to pay 1/2 of device to shipping.

On the point where it shows sold out do you have to confirm order?  Does it pop up after that?  I just had not seen it, but have not confirmed it either.

It shows sold out after you hit Confirm.

Rich

Agreed I do not think it is actually available for sale yet, we are just seeing it from Yesterdays Trial listing link. Router is not in the main product listing yet.

Rich

After electrical costs, I'm betting a Linksys N300 Wi-Fi Wireless Router would be a more practical purchase.

This really is not a entire router like the N300.  I would say this is more in the area of tplink nanos.   Basically a traveling router.

I'm a little disappointed in the on board chip.  Just wish it was clocked higher.   Also wish we could see some screens from this thing I wonder if there is anything that ties in with antpool, or hashnest.  I would enjoy having stats being pulled up by it.

Better yet is not having to use a PI.  The list this feature:

Bitcoin Mining Host

The R1 can also be used as a controller to manage and run several AntMiner U3s. Connecting your U3 to the AntRouter R1 via a USB hub eliminates the need to keep the U3 plugged into your computer.

I'm hoping that it will be able to do side hacks compacs aswell.

what electrecity cost will have this 5w? is nothing for a device. Unfortunately when you confirm the order appear a message that this product is sold out. I think is not ready for orders yet but maybe will be the next days?

The main one I think of using currently is the compac.  And it appears to be a U3 in it's software I believe.   

So it is possible one of GekkoScience's compac's will work.  We will not know till after release.

Im pretty sure if they clocked it higher that would be bad end result with no fan.  It says operating temp is 40 in a 25 degree environment.

It's clocked at 100MHz so the chip will be taking about 1.5W. Could probably push it to 200MHz which would be 3W so long as the DC converter chip can take it, perhaps a heatsink on the chips? Lots of fun to be had.  :)

Rich

I'm not sure on that.  Look at what sidehack was able to do with a chip.  I mean it's able to do 8GH easily with no issues. 

But I guess it depends on design.  We really don't know what kind of heatsink they have on chip.  If they did a small really cheap one it could take moding to safely go higher.

While the Compac will run passive at 8Gh/s, I wouldn't really recommend it - never mind if putting it into an enclosed space with limited surface area for cooling (which the R1 largely appears to be, ventilation holes notwithstanding).

Mine was outside I give you that.   I did add PC fan's to the area and have OC'ed them after to 15 gh.  If they have clocked at around 5 there it likely will never get hot.

I would rather have a fan on R1 with a little more power.  But guess for a router their design is much more common.  I do look forward to mods on it

I wish I could order 1 U3 instead of 20 alonght with an R1.. :(..  I'll pay for shipping.

Still think they should make a U4 with the new chips.. I need another small miner.  S7 is just too much for me for hobby mining.

Look over in group buy's.  There are sellers such as crazy guy.  He sells them 1 at a time.

He is a very good seller.  There might be others but there are many ways to get 1 instead of that 20 order quantity.

I like to buy from Bitmain directly but no biggie.

I do to buy with MOQ 20 that is a lot of U3's to take on at once.   Honestly check out Crazy Guy's site or PM him - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=25223

I planned on getting 1, liked it so much ordered 2 more from him.  Hes top notch seller (and no I don't get paid for this endorsement :) ).  I just know he will treat you right though.

Sweet thanks for the reference.

I was surprised how hot the heat sink got when running a compac at only 125 freq, I put a fan on the one I have at that frequency right away after I touched it.

Given the track record with the U3, I would say thanks but no thanks to a U4.  Instead, wait for gekko science to make their pod (link (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1203190.0)).  It will be what you are hoping for from a "U4", except the gekko version will work and you'll be supporting "the good guys" instead of a major international corporation.

I just bought their USb miner.

You might try to turn down voltage and see if it makes a difference. What speed are you getting at 125? 

I have 2 at 150 and it ran fine with no fan.  Now the ones I have cranked up to 250 I had to add fans.   They really did get hot, but well within spec.

One thing I can't understand of this device.
Does it add computing power to the Antpool mining pool or does it make the "lottery" in solo mode?
Not that I would buy it to win the lottery, but I would like to help decentralize a bit.
So by using this, would I be helping decentralization or would it still ad computing power to the Antpool mining node?

If you use CrazyGuy's custom firmware you can use the R1 as a normal miner.  If you pm him I'm sure he will give it to you.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=25223 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=25223)

Thank you for the info, dude :)