A network with no center
Your phone normally talks to a cell tower, which hands your message to the carrier’s network. If the tower loses power or the network is overloaded, the message stops. A mesh network has no tower and no carrier. Every radio can talk directly to the radios near it, and each one repeats what it hears. A message spreads hop by hop until it reaches everyone.
Why it keeps working in an outage
- No single point of failure. If one relay goes down, messages take another path.
- Its own power. Relays run on solar panels and batteries.
- No internet needed. Messages travel radio to radio.
What LoRa adds
Most community mesh networks today use LoRa, a radio method designed to send small amounts of data over long distances on very little power. A LoRa radio the size of a deck of cards can reach miles from a good height while running for days on a small battery. The tradeoff is speed: LoRa carries short text, not photos or calls.
Meshtastic
Meshtastic is the open-source firmware that turns inexpensive LoRa radios into a text mesh. It handles relaying, channels and encryption, and pairs with a free phone app. It’s what we install.
What a town uses it for
- Residents checking in during an outage.
- “Need help” requests reaching staff and neighbors.
- Warming center hours, boil-water notices and weather warnings.
- Staff coordination when phones are down.
Next: how a town network is put together.
Common questions
Do I need cell service to use a mesh network?
No. Phones connect to a small radio over Bluetooth; messages travel radio to radio.
How many hops can a message take?
Meshtastic messages can be relayed several times; the default limit is three hops and the maximum is seven.