• Jilanico@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    That’s exactly what I was envisioning, thank you! I wonder if radios in smartphones (cellular module or wifi direct) could be leveraged to do the same in densely populated areas. Could there be a meshtastic app for phones? Free, decentralized mobile phone calls.

    • Jilanico@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Seems like there is an app called Briar that does this for messaging. Not sure if it does voice calls.

      • Chobbes@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        I doubt that Bluetooth and wifi antennas on phones are going to be great at long distances. Text is going to be a much better bet as it needs less bandwidth and doesn’t have to be received in real time (so you can store and remit messages later).

        • Jilanico@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          That makes sense. I saw another mesh app that lets you transmit voice messages, so it’s not real time.

          • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Did you find Meshenger yet? It’s not exactly what you’re after as it still relies on a local wifi network for comms, but it’s one of the closer apps I’ve found to what you describe.

            That said, what’s the app you found that lets you transmit asynchronous voice messages? Sounds kinda cool!

          • Chobbes@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Honestly if you’re interested in this stuff I’d encourage you to get a radio license. You’d probably be interested in repeaters, satellites, and HF, but you might also be really interested in stuff like APRS (which is sort of a giant radio mesh net). I don’t know what country you’re in, but usually licenses are really cheap and just require you to pass a relatively easy (with some studying) multiple choice exam. The hardest part is usually just figuring out where you can take a test (at least in the USA tests are run by volunteers, so you have to do a little bit of searching to see when they do them in your area).