Internet shutdowns are devastating for human rights. We can’t rely on tech oligarchs to save us, especially when these same companies and governments are the ones to sever our access to the internet and telecommunications. This is why it’s important to set up communication mechanisms before a disaster happens.
I call this the “Alice in chains” class of cryptographic problems, where one or both communicators are under severe social and political repression, to the point that even sending messages can be dangerous or impossible even if the contents themselves are secure.
They’re difficult to address because the particulars vary so broadly from case to case, and the challenges are more political and infrastructural than strictly technological or mathematical. I think one of the best things we can do to address these problems is building a resilient, low-cost, general purpose data network that can’t be easily cut off at government or corporate chokepoints. Mesh networks are a big part of the puzzle.
This is what Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat was supposed to do: decentralized, Wi-Fi-optional chat via Bluetooth and mesh networks.
Unfortunately, it’s also vibe-coded by his Goose AI, so I don’t put much stock into that… but it’s certainly a creative idea that more people should be trying. I personally love Bluetooth and think it’s horribly underused.
Inb4 they outlaw meshtastic
I prefer reticulum. They make it so the network is independent of the physical layer. You can even use old AX.25 modem if you wanted to. Which is what I did. I basically use MCU to be a modem and use 3.5mm jack to connect it to any amateur/HAM radio
Ive found meshcore to work far better, any reason to use meshtastic?
hiking. two groups, two nodes, no real perm network. meshtastic is better for that adhock. meshcore ia better for any planned system.
basically what wasbyour use case before:
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my family is going to a remote place so we are bringing walkie talkies? … meshtastic
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we need a rilable network so we piggyback dominic’s network so samaritan doesnt find us?.. meshcore
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They’re both LoRA. What makes one better than the other? Serious question, because I genuinely don’t know.
Meshcore has preset node types for client/repeater vs meshtastic that does not and everything connects to everything else making it more chatty and giving it an advantage in constructing a network out of nothing vs meshcore that does better and way more stable as actual long term infrastructure
i answered above. the biggest problem is meshtastic is very chatty and not good for established networks but great for adhoc
I don’t understand what very chatty means. I also don’t understand what you were saying with points 1 and 2 in your above comments. As I understand, LoRA can’t support speech, so walkies are out, right?
sorry… my post was too assuming and heavy on old show references.
ok, yes lora is just text but i was more using the “why” you are communicating. its actually better than walkie talkies because it keeps trying to get you message across. i used walkie talkie in my analogy because that’s what we used to communicate out in the middle of nowhere.
when i said chatty, i meant that nodes will broadcast messages all over the place. it can cause congestion. meshcore has defined roles and can manage message traffic better. so it doesnt get congested like that.
to reiterate, n meshtastic, every node is the same and meshcore has different roles. maybe this will help. https://nodakmesh.org/blog/meshcore-how-it-works-guide
i admit than posting silly analogies in a very public forum made up of different people was a bad idea. i’ll explain because its very close to meshcore.
in the show person of interest, the later season had a drug dealer have his own cell network so his calls couldnt be intercepted. the goid guys used it because an evil ai was trying to find them. in the show they setup repeaters on roof tops to increase the network size. so the network topology is the similar.
i am honestly very happy to go more into it if i didnt explain enough here. my original comment was just a drive by attempt at humor
Asia and Africa doesn’t feature in the geographical territory ?
This is actually very helpful, so thank you for that. The link is informative, too. I’ve been wanting to get into this for a while, but the DIY-esque of meshtastic put me off for the time being. I’ve got too much going on right now to invest all this time to just get started, and wanted something a little more plug/play to get going quickly, with the option to learn the spec details and expand upon when life “cools off”. Meshcore might be that system.
I like meshtastic for tak environments and meshcore simply for coms although reticulum is looking kinda interesting but I don’t have any experience with it to actually say how good it is personally
Symptom relief is not a cure.
Folks need to be direct, and thorough.
