Meshtastic
17 likes
Meshtastic is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure. This project is 100% community driven and open source!
+1
Cost / License
- Free
- Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application type
Platforms
- Linux
- Android
- Self-Hosted
- Linux Mobile
- Flathub
- F-Droid
- Flatpak
- OpenAPK
Features
Meshtastic News & Activities
Highlights All activities
Recent activities
- c17s5qhu updated Meshtastic
- Derekman liked Meshtastic
justarandom added Meshtastic as alternative to Ratspeak
justarandom added Meshtastic as alternative to Columba Messenger
justarandom added Meshtastic as alternative to Zerion- 3F1 updated Meshtastic
ralaud added Meshtastic as alternative to Reticulum-Go
ralaud added Meshtastic as alternative to MeshchatX- urgay421 liked Meshtastic
- nazarzajya added Instant Messaging as a feature to Meshtastic
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What is Meshtastic?
Meshtastic information
Developed by
Meshtastic LLC Licensing
Open Source (GPL-3.0) and Free product.Written in
Rating
Average rating of 4.3Alternatives
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Social & Communications, Network & AdminGitHub repository
- 8,318 Stars
- 2,759 Forks
- 428 Open Issues
- Updated
Comments and Reviews
low range only, not that useful for custom internet layers as is limited by design for slow local networks
Meshtastic is a really cool project. Since they support a ton of hardware many of the releases are unstable but you can always find at least a handful of boards with good support.
The biggest benefit to Meshtastic for this kind of off-grid comms system is the price and low barrier to entry. There are better systems but not for this cheap.
LoRa the protocol is good for long-range comms but Meshtastic isn't as good in real-world scenarios due to its 1 watt power output and poor object penetration in the 915MHz range. It boasts crazy distances but only if each node is on a mountaintop or something.
Realistically you'll get a couple miles out of a Meshtastic device. It's very useful in urban areas with lots of nodes but pretty deaf in the suburbs and unusable in the countryside.
Meshtastic offers a good way to communicate with each other in the absence of grid power and fixed networks. It is also possible to tunnel IP traffic via Meshtastic.