[idof]

In addition to short-range bluetooth app like Briar.

There exist long range communication : Meshtastic, with $20 devices you can send messages with kilometers range.

What would be ideal is for Briar to embrace the "Bluetooth to LoRa node".

We can extend Briar Bluetooth network by adding Bluetooth to LoRa node that can connect multiple bluetooth mesh networks together.

[bigiain]

Meshtastic (and the LoRa tech underneath it in general) has a lot lower bandwidth than some people expect.

It's a reasonable solution for "a few dozen nodes up to 8-10km apart under ideal conditions", and enables SMS-style messaging across the mesh - but it's not "an internet replacement" by a long shot...

Think more "30people in an irc channel - without pics/video" rather than "Stream your protests to Instagram or Facebook Live"...

[anakaine]

LoRa cannot handle much data at all. At the lowest data rate you're talking 51 bytes taking 400ms to transmit. Its also far better at uplink traffic than downlink, meaning 2 way communication is very, very, very limited.

[bigiain]

Yeah. Meshtastic in default (very long range) config has practical limits of ~30 nodes/users on a channel and can only broadcast old-school SMS style messages across the mesh.

It's super fun to play with. But it isn't gonna "save democracy by circumventing nations-state internet shutdowns"

[ryankrage77]

> $20 devices

I couldn't find anything less than $100, where can you buy them from?

[bigiain]

Meshtastic runs on these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000897355282.html

And if you don't need GPS (they'll use the GPS in an Android phone), these too:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000329729312.html

You could save a buck or two more by getting ones without screens, but it makes Bluetooth pairing more complex (you need to read the pairing code off the serial console over the USB port. But yo only need to do it once. It's not _awful_ if your plan is always to pair each device with the same (Android) phone)