mesh core is looking better and better everyday, i recommend it over meshtastic especially if there’s a lot of people in your area using meschcore. much easier and more reliable to send messages that hop over multiple nodes
this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2026
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When I get my tax refund, I'm looking at setting this up!
This is super cool technology, thanks for sharing!
Do y'all think this is a useful tool in organizing?
My understanding is that we already have the "send an encrypted message" use case handled by e.g. signal.
From a physical security standpoint, the FAQ (for one of meshtastic or meshcore) says that triangulating location is possible, which isn't ideal.
I do definitely see this as useful when typical infrastructure is down, but I'm not sure how often that's the case. Maybe in large gatherings of people (concerts/protests), when cell frequencies get saturated? I assume these work in a different frequency band.
Not trying to minimize how cool this is, just trying to see how the technology could be leveraged
Mesh networks are much better for organizing because they're just fundamentally more secure and much more difficult to disrupt. Since the data doesn't go through the internet, you actually have to be part of the mesh to see it.
(Pushing back for the sake of understanding)
In what context would you recommend using this in organizing? The barrier to entry is high enough that it wouldn't be the main channel for most folks. Maaaybe for particularly sensitive discussion between a few folks? But then they should probably just meet in person.
fundamentally more secure
Needing to be part of the network doesn't seem inherently more secure from a stingray-style mitm attack. Encryption is what provides security, and the encryption isn't fundamentally different from e.g. signal. From what I can tell, this seems to provide security through obscurity.
I guess I'm mostly not convinced that this is inherently more secure than signal vs an adversary targeting a specific conversation, as long as that adversary is in the same general area.
I'm not familiar with the underlying stack, and it's possible that selecting a specific route to avoid the mitm somehow helps (tor-style routing...?), but even then you're still transmitting over rf and an adversary can listen in. In that case, we're just back to security hinging on encryption, which e2ee apps also use.
more difficult to disrupt
Maybe with a sufficiently dense network, but tracking down and disabling nodes is feasible.
Shutting down the entire internet, even if we assume it's easier logistically, is much more disruptive to the general population. Shutting down the mesh network only affects those on the network, and would be unnoticeable to virtually everyone.
That said, I could imagine a scenario where it's deemed acceptable to shut down the internet but mesh networks are still functioning (at least for a while)... but it's a very dark scenario. Unfortunately not out of the realm of possibility, though.
Security is a concern of course, but think about resiliency too. If a natural disaster knocks out the grid, mutual aid networks could leverage solar powered nodes to maintain comms.
I completely agree that meeting in person and leaving the phone at home is by far the safest way to communicate. I was thinking more of using this sort of tech during large protests for example to coordinate them without relying on the internet.
I'd argue it's more secure because it takes more effort, like actually having to physically have equipment on the ground. If you have the same software security in both cases, this adds a hardware component to it. For mitm attacks, you actually have to compromise individual devices in the distributed mesh. This is a lot more difficult to do at scale than compromising centralized infrastructure run by companies that are working with you. If anything, I'd argue Signal is one thing you absolutely should not use for any sort of organizing because it's tied to your phone number. Even if the messages themselves are secure, it reveals the graph of people communicating.
And in terms of resilience, that is a factor of the number of people using the network, and the nodes connecting it. So, encouraging active use now, will make it a more powerful tool later on.
This is the same LoRA tech that they've been shoving in Alexas and Rings btw. That network is fully proprietary and closed though, and if you have one of those devices you need to immediately destroy it. Since even disconnected from your network it can communicate on its own.
So is it realistic for these to work in remote areas? Like would I need a node every 10 miles or something for it to work? I'm pretty far away from even a smallish city, but I live on a mountain that's about 1000 feet higher than the surrounding areas.
I don't really need it, but it sounds neat and it would be cool to set one up
My understanding is it depends heavily on line of sight, but under ideal conditions the signals can go several miles. So if you've got the high ground you might do OK. Check both the Meshtastic and Meshcore node maps in your area to see who else is out there.
It this open source or some copyrighted proprietary tech?
what does the title say?
Sorry, I am tired. Looks really cool though