[2Gkashmiri]

What is the licensing issue with this? It is like Ham radio license ? Something else? India has started banning drones outright and walkie talkies are banned unless you have prior police verification. I think they demand that radio exam, Morse and all but im not sure. Where does this fit? Is it like cellular connection?

[Reventlov]

There is no licensing issue, you can use LoRa without a licence (like Wi-Fi) in a few bands depending on the country / zone you're in (915MHz, 868MHz, 433MHz…). You have to respect duty cycles restrictions (not emit more than 1% of the time, for example) though if you're not listening to avoid collisions.

[mixxit]

isn't also that all communication is required to be unencrypted?

[numpad0]

Depends on local laws. For where I am, LoRa radios fall into similar requirements to Wi-Fi, where devices must be certified but encryption require no license.

[detaro]

Outside ham bands such rules are rare.

[c_o_n_v_e_x]

There's different types of regulation to consider.. There's spectrum licensing, radio user licensing, and product certification.

2.4 GHz is considered an ISM band meaning it's license free meaning you do not have to purchase a license from the government to use that physical chunk of spectrum. There are certain chunks of spectrum (frequencies) that are auctioned off by the government. This gets you exclusive usage to that band, across a country or in certain parts. The government will (is supposed to) enforce the spectrum so unlicensed users aren't clogging things up. You may not need a spectrum license for ISM band usage, but you still need to be using certified products.

Next you have user licensing like HAM radio operators. Amateurs are legally required to have licenses to operate the radios. I'm not sure whether a HAM radio license also includes a fee for spectrum.

Last (but I'm sure there's probably more regs), you have the certifications for the product itself. If you're in the US, this means doing FCC testing and getting an ID for your product. Each country typically has their own regulatory body. A certified product means your OK on duty cycle, TX power, etc. There's other tests as well especially if you're dealing with wearables but that's a different story.

[sangnoir]

> 2.4 GHz is considered an ISM band meaning it's license free meaning you do not have to purchase a license from the government to use that physical chunk of spectrum.

This is not necessarily true: some governments demand that ISM frequencies be used for Industrial, Scientific and Medical purposes only, so it is not license-free for personal use in all jurisdictions.

[bri3d]

It uses a LoRa module, which is approved by the radio regulators as an ISM-band device in some jurisdictions, for example in the US:

https://fccid.io/2ASEORFM95C

No idea how the regulators in India work but yes, this is more similar to a cellular connection than an analog VHF/UHF walkie talkie.

[z3t4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LoRa