keenmaster486 wrote on 2026-02-20, 04:02:

rmay635703 wrote on 2026-02-20, 03:33:

It was always a mistake to eliminate the emergency backbone of the country, pots, which technically could support higher transfer rates than it did but the tech was abandoned

There's nothing I wish more than that there were still a functional true copper telephone network.

Same here, it seems like it has been phased out globally.

I have no experience with it personally, but this discussion reminds me that I have wanted to tinker with meshtastic and to get some local friends onboard too. It could definitely be jammed if the government or someone else doesn't want people to use it, but it is an AES256 encrypted wireless communication (via text) method that does not rely on public infrastructure and isn't real expensive to get started with. You need electricity of course, but that is something that a person can provide themselves (generators, solar, etc.) where as even old school copper land line phones require infrastructure that is easily damaged and that individuals can't operate on their own.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-02-20, 09:14:

I have no experience with it personally, but this discussion reminds me that I have wanted to tinker with meshtastic and to get some local friends onboard too. It could definitely be jammed if the government or someone else doesn't want people to use it, but it is an AES256 encrypted wireless communication (via text) method that does not rely on public infrastructure and isn't real expensive to get started with. You need electricity of course, but that is something that a person can provide themselves (generators, solar, etc.) where as even old school copper land line phones require infrastructure that is easily damaged and that individuals can't operate on their own.

Meshtastic works great depending on the use.

If you are less worried about encryption but just want short range comms with your community a GMRS license is only $35 dollars or so.