Internet connection stability vs mining

[whitetoo]

Hi Bitcoin gurus,

This question is more out of curiosity than anything else, how important is a stable "always on" Internet connection when mining for Bitcoins? I'm assuming once synced with the network the hashing occurs on the local data files?

If this is not the case and a constant net connection is required, are your efforts reset if the Internet connection does drop from the network?

Thanks and sorry if these seems stupid questions, I couldn't find my answer through searching.

[RAK3]

Hello

The thing is, as far as I've understood it (I'm new to the scene), that You need to have a reasonable and always on connection because the miners need to know what is the current difficulty and what block is being solved currently.
If You are planning to do some solo mining then the bandwith is not a requirement but an always on connection most definitely is.

[Eylrid]

Hi Bitcoin gurus,

This question is more out of curiosity than anything else, how important is a stable "always on" Internet connection when mining for Bitcoins? I'm assuming once synced with the network the hashing occurs on the local data files?

If this is not the case and a constant net connection is required, are your efforts reset if the Internet connection does drop from the network?

Thanks and sorry if these seems stupid questions, I couldn't find my answer through searching.

I don't know the specifics of how any given mining software handles that, but I see three critical things for which a connection is needed:

• Catching up to the latest blockchain state
• Collecting transactions
• Transmitting a block you found

Theoretically, if you got the latest block and a handful of transactions, disconnected, solved a block and reconnected to submit it before someone else solved another block you would be ok. If someone else solves a block first, though, and you don't know about it, you could be wasting work on an old block.

Disclaimer: I am not a miner, so this is just my supposition.

[whitetoo]

Thank you kindly for the input guys.

The issues you've outlined above are the ones puzzling me and all suggest that a stable net connection is a must to contribute to the pool or to make solo mining as cost effective as possible.

If any advanced miners could clarify on the technicalities for learning purposes it would be greatly received.

[RAK3]

Maybe You'll have more luck following this thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83371.msg918899#msg918899