cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50312445
Assuming i never had to call anyone more than a few miles from me anyway, how practical would it be to stop having a phone altogether and just use MeshCore or Meshtastic for short range communication? What troubles would i run into from not having a phone?
I figure i could even buy radios for people i need to talk to and with no phone bill this would pay for itself in about a year.
you really wouldnt want to do that.
you can’t do 2fa. if your area isnt saturated enough, you may end up with “islands” where your message won’t get through to the intended party. if your area is too saturated, you may use up all the hops before it gets to your intended party. if you live in a hilly or wooded area your range will be diminished. if your home internet and/or power goes down, you will have no access to the internet via tethering. sometimes i have trouble with 2 nodes in the same room not seeing eachother. most devices ive seen are very low spec and can be very glitchy.
meshtastic is very cool, but it is nowhere near a replacement for a cellphone. give it some years and some iterations and maybe we can develop a robust communication alternative, but i dont think we’re there yet.
that said, yeah, get a few nodes, give them to your friends, and see how you like it. maybe i’m wrong. also the more people using it, the more likely it is to grow into something more usable.
2fa could be a big issue. I think the only thing i need it for is my Gmail, which i log into maybe a couple times a year.
I use a dumbphone so a lot of the issues here are things i already deal with. If my home internet goes down and i desperately need to check my email or look at fresh pictures of cats, i take my laptop to the public library because i don’t have a hotspot.
I will get a couple nodes for friends and family, and see how reliable they are. Currently it seems like i’m the only person in my city using Meshcore or Meshtastic, so i’d be starting the mesh from scratch. But someone has to. And you’re right that more people using this will help.
I wish people wouldn’t assume everyone has a (smart)phone. I was totally without a phone for a few weeks last year and it was nice.
Meshcore doesn’t solve all of that, but it definitely is an improvement over meshtastic.
Messages deliver more reliably, and you get 16 hops at minimum instead of 7 at max.