[lvs]

This is an important area in which I feel development has been disappointing, mainly because the commercial value isn't there. There are a few off-grid mesh dongle products that have been released in the past few years. Unfortunately, they're all crazy expensive.

Examples: https://gotenna.com/

https://beartooth.com/

https://www.gotoky.com/

https://fogo.io/

They all rely on your phone and themselves cost more than a whole low-end phone! I am really confused as to why meshing requires much additional hardware that isn't already in a phone.

[ClumsyPilot]

Because we have no access or control over the actual phoone part of the phone - the 4G/ cellular transmitter.

[lvs]

But you do have control over the wifi and bluetooth radios, which should be fine in an urban setting or a protest.

[totetsu]

the https://gotenna.com/ map shows two devices in Minsk.