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Understanding Hum’s Core Components

The Hum API platform is built around several key concepts that work together to provide a seamless experience for discovering and comparing internet service providers.

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Intelligent Agents

Hum’s intelligent agents act as digital assistants that interact with ISP systems on behalf of residents. These agents streamline the traditionally complex process of checking service availability and gathering accurate plan information.

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How Agents Work

Our agents operate through sophisticated automation:

• Launch secure, isolated virtual browsers for each provider interaction
• Navigate provider websites and systems in real-time
• Input address and service information accurately
• Extract and validate service availability data
• Gather current plans, pricing, and promotional offers
• Handle complex scenarios and variations across different ISP platforms

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Agent Capabilities

Each agent is designed to:

• Understand and follow provider-specific workflows
• Handle dynamic website changes and updates
• Process both structured and unstructured data
• Validate results for accuracy
• Retry operations when necessary
• Adapt to different regional variations in provider systems

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Real-time Processing

Agents work in real-time to ensure accuracy:

• Multiple agents can run concurrently for faster results
• Each agent reports its status throughout the process
• Results are immediately processed and normalized
• Data is validated against known patterns and rules
• Anomalies are detected and handled appropriately

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Sessions

A session represents a single address lookup transaction in the Hum API. Each session:

• Maintains state throughout the address validation and provider discovery process
• Has a unique session token required for all subsequent API calls
• Expires after 15 minutes to ensure data accuracy
• Can be explicitly closed when no longer needed

The session-based approach ensures:

• Consistent data throughout the provider discovery process
• Accurate address validation and geocoding
• Reliable provider and plan availability results
• Secure and efficient API interactions

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Session Flow

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Address Validation

Hum’s address validation system:

• Normalizes addresses to a standard format
• Geocodes addresses to the Census block level
• Validates address components for accuracy
• Provides detailed address information including:
  • Normalized street address
  • Latitude and longitude coordinates
  • Street range information
  • City, state, and ZIP code

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Provider Discovery

The provider discovery process:

• Identifies all available ISPs at a given address
• Retrieves current plan information and pricing
• Validates service availability
• Provides detailed provider information including:
  • Provider name and contact details
  • Available technologies (DSL, Cable, Fiber, etc.)
  • Plan speeds and pricing
  • Installation options

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Rate Limiting

Hum implements rate limiting to ensure fair usage:

• API requests are limited per time period
• Rate limits vary by endpoint and plan tier
• Rate limit information is included in response headers
• Graceful handling of rate limit exceeded scenarios

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Data Accuracy

Hum maintains high data accuracy through:

• Regular updates to provider information
• Real-time availability checking
• Address-level service validation
• Comprehensive error handling