[syntaxing]

Recently downloaded bitchat so I can contact my family members if outages like this happen when we’re out and about. I got a few T1000 cards for meshtastic but there’s just too much friction to teach my spouse and others how and when to use it. I wish haloW was built into phones which would make long range local communication much better.

[mtlynch]

Does bitchat work during a phone outage? Range on BLE is pretty low, right, so I'd expect it to not do much unless you happen to live in an area where there are bitchat users every 100 ft or so.

I'm in a similar boat to you in wanting a LoRa mesh. I tried out MeshCore on the LilyGo T-Deck+ hoping it would be a device I could hand out to family members, but I found the hardware and software disappointing.[0] But I'm weirdly tempted to try the LilyGo Pager.

[0] https://mtlynch.io/first-impressions-of-meshcore/#testing-th...

[syntaxing]

Unfortunately as you said, the range is abysmal since it uses BLE. It’s barely enough for a box store but it’s better than nothing. I like the idea of the lilygo pager too. I first thought it was e-ink from some of the pictures but sadly it was not.

[shibapuppie]

The "T5 E-Paper S3 Pro” is an iPhone-like e-paper phone form factor WITH a LoRa radio from lilygo, if it would interest you.

[crims0n]

Really neat concept but that name is so unfortunate. Is it bit-chat or bitch-at? Frankly either would work.

[rootusrootus]

I had not heard of it, and the first thing that came to mind was bitch-at. Maybe that's a reflection on my character, who knows.

[eddyfromtheblok]

feelin bitch-at, frfr

[ezfe]

It's obviously bit chat

[venturecruelty]

Checking off "complains about the name" on my HN bingo card.