Bitcoin miner in NYC home interfered with T-Mobile network, FCC says

[velocityg4]

Arstechnica
https://arstechnica.com/information...me-interfered-with-t-mobile-network-fcc-says/

After receiving a complaint from T-Mobile about interference to its 700MHz LTE network in Brooklyn, New York, FCC agents in November 2017 determined that radio emissions in the 700MHz band were coming from the residence of a man named Victor Rosario.

"When the interfering device was turned off the interference ceased," the FCC's enforcement bureau told Rosario in a "Notification of Harmful Interference" yesterday. "You identified the device as an Antminer S5 Bitcoin Miner. The device was generating spurious emissions on frequencies assigned to T-Mobile's broadband network and causing harmful interference."

The FCC told Rosario that continued interference with T-Mobile's network while operating the device would be a violation of federal laws "and could subject the operator to severe penalties, including, but not limited to, substantial monetary fines, in rem arrest action to seize the offending radio equipment, and criminal sanctions including imprisonment."

That's got to suck for that guy. Wouldn't it be possible to use a Faraday cage with the appropriate mesh size to block those emissions? Seems like a simple solution. Although I imagine the fine would be really heavy if he got it wrong.

 

[mtneer]

I thought that there are FCC restrictions on what emissions can leak out of a product sold in the US. So as this Antminer modified somehow by the user or was this deemed OK in a foreign country of origin, but caused issues on import to the United States?

 

[velocityg4]

Going by

I thought that there are FCC restrictions on what emissions can leak out of a product sold in the US. So as this Antminer modified somehow by the user or was this deemed OK in a foreign country of origin, but caused issues on import to the United States?

Going by the article. The FCC hasn't made any of those determinations yet.

Looking into it further. It is an old model. Not worth very much and very power inefficient. Unless they were getting power for free. Going by current Bitcoin hashrates. I don't see how the owner could be making any money. Even with really cheap power of $0.09 per kilowatt. They'd lose about $5 per month. At best, the returns are enough to reduce the heating bill in the winter.

While there are probably other models. The only models which even look profitable enough to bother with are the Antminer S9 and R4. If prices go up. They can pay for themselves. If prices level off. The mining difficulty will probably become too difficult to pay them off.