Comment by raffael_de
10 hours ago
I have difficulty following you.
> a Wi-Fi mesh experiment 15+ years ago. It's a fun experiment, but in a way feels like a step backward for me.
Why? WiFi technology is cheap and available. Seems like a great basis for a mesh.
> Meshtastic and Meshcore are just that, messaging, but that makes it the standardized killer app.
Why "just"? All the internet protocols are also just messaging at the end of the day - request: A sends message to B, response: B sends message to A.
> On the other side you have reticulum which allows decoupling from the LoRa low bandwidth only radios, seems to do a lot of neat stuff
I'm not familiar with Reticulum (neither with Mesh* in any meaningful way) - do you mean to say that Reticulum is more flexible regarding the radio technology - as in: no need to by specific devices like for Meshcore?
> I'm starting to feel this is a fun activity, but realistically copium for a world that is very sadly centralizing everything.
Can't say I disagree, sadly.
Oh yes, Wi-Fi was cheap, but before HaLow we ended giving up because we couldn't get a meaningful density for the network to get far enough across town to start to be remotely useful, even with 10-15dBi antennas mounted outside.
About the messaging aspect, I mean that though a messaging app is great, I feel that the end goal is having an independent network from the telcos, carriers, etc. In that sense we're going to need to allow more than an SMS replacement.
And from there is born the problem. Bootstraping such a network for more than geeks is relatively impossible in that context. You either have a device that does one thing as a drop-in magic solution for newcomers to jump on, or you chase the better solution, but that brings as much complexity, if not more, as running the Internet...
And while I'm happy to see p2p and mesh research continuing, participate when I can, I just feel like it's a pipe dream that is far far away and I'd like to see it grow beyond the few dozens of decentralization geeks in every city :)