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This Tiny Radio Lets Me Send Texts Without Wi-Fi or Cell Service (www.howtogeek.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 113 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Clickbait title. Just say it's meshtastic.

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  • [–] 76 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Ok.......what's meshtastic? I still haven't clicked the article, and know nothing of which you speak.

    I'd say this title is for people like me. I think it sounds cool.

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  • [–] 32 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    It is cool! The barrier to entry is relatively low. The only thing to really worry about is:

    1. What band/frequency is appropriate for you country.
    2. Are there others around to which you can connect?

    If there's not a lot of people around it's not the end of the world. Nodes can connect over the Internet via MQTT servers. Yes, this defeats the purpose of having an offline/decentralized communication platform, but it is a good stop gap until more nodes are put up.

    Here's a sample of what I can see in a somewhat large-ish Midwest City in the US (there's about 63 nodes I can reach by hopping through relays).

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I got mine recently in a dxent aized city and while there are plenty of nodes popping up on the map, the local channel is pretty quiet. Is that normal?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Yep, that can be normal. For my city, the local group has a private (but free to join) channel that's a bit more active.

    Do a web search for meshtastic and your city and see if one pops up.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    I don't know. It's the same for me but I got a pretty bad reception. The only time I saw some messages was when someone was sending some from a plane, so I guess it was a special occasion.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    It allows us to make a mesh network (interconnected nodes where you can contact a node even if it's not in range for you, by using other nodes) with Lora radio devices. Lora is slow but has long range. I think it works better when you have line of sight, like if someone can put a node on a mountain, it would help everyone.

    I think people might have sent audio with it but it's mostly useful for text messages. It could be useful if the Internet is down, maybe, but it's more like a toy.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    It could be useful if the Internet is down, maybe, but it’s more like a toy.

    Since LoRa devices use very little power this can be useful when there is no electricity.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Definitely clickbait. The phrase "send texts" as it's been used for the past quarter century means "sms texts" or maybe "text messages to other people on mobile phone networks", which is not at all what this is.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Exactly. I was hyped because I'd like to send and receive SMS w/o a mobile phone. I was hoping someone implemented the protocol so I could integrate it into my desktop, the "no wi-fi or cell service" was merely a bonus.

    But no, this is just a way to communicate over a different radio protocol than mobile phone standards.

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