4 ms·

Yes, and I can't talk with other radios either, I need to talk to a provider's cell tower. I have to drop down something ancient like a VHF radio to do peer to

Yes, and I can't talk with other radios either, I need to talk to a provider's cell tower. I have to drop down something ancient like a VHF radio to do peer to peer communication at long range. PS. If I'm wrong, please let me know. I'd love to hear about any developments in long range P2P wireless phones.

rolleiflex 7y ago
I do Aether (P2P Reddit~ish, https://getaether.net https://getaether.net) and I investigated doing something like this over radio mesh networks. Specifically doing it over HAM radio was one of the possibilities. The plan was something like doing anycast over Radio. Turns out, even those bands do have a lot of limitations. For example you cannot use any encryption, which makes most of the modern tools out of the picture because TLS is impossible. There are some workarounds like doing TLS with blank keys, but far as I understand it is dicey so far as legality goes. (The data on Aether is public, but we use encryption tools for authentication of messages.)
- ohazi 7y ago
  What does TLS with blank keys give you over plaintext?
  - mokus 7y ago
    I can see how it’s not obvious, but the parentheses at the end are the answer to that (or maybe they were edited in after your question). You can use TLS without ciphering but with signatures to authenticate messages.
thepete2 7y ago
That's a really stupid thing about cell phones. We all carry these amazing radios with us, but they become completely useless once there is no tower around. Why can't phones be used as walkie-talkies?
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  Because the person you want to contact is unlikely to be within radio distance.
  - thepete2 7y ago
    yes, but how cool would that be?
    - state_less 7y ago
      I think it would be pretty cool too. For those times when you are out of range of a tower and in range of each other, you could chat up your pals out at the campsite or whathaveyou. And if you and your ilk load some kind of meshing or 'router app' on these advanced (non-hobbled) handheld radios, you might have a better chance of getting in touch with that out of range person by routing packets across radios until you're at the internet. Even if you limit the bandwidth to text messages for this feature, it could be a real lifesaver for folks needing to get emergency messages out.
      - Something1234 7y ago
        What about the push to talk feature on some work phones?
      - lawfulcactus 7y ago
        You're effectively talking about APRS[1]. [1] http://www.aprs.org http://www.aprs.org
        state_less 7y ago
        Thanks, it's fun to read through these links!
- BerislavLopac 7y ago
  I understand they can: http://www.servalproject.org/ http://www.servalproject.org/

rolleiflex 7y ago

I do Aether (P2P Reddit~ish, https://getaether.net https://getaether.net) and I investigated doing something like this over radio mesh networks. Specifically doing it over HAM radio was one of the possibilities. The plan was something like doing anycast over Radio. Turns out, even those bands do have a lot of limitations. For example you cannot use any encryption, which makes most of the modern tools out of the picture because TLS is impossible. There are some workarounds like doing TLS with blank keys, but far as I understand it is dicey so far as legality goes. (The data on Aether is public, but we use encryption tools for authentication of messages.)

ohazi 7y ago
What does TLS with blank keys give you over plaintext?
- mokus 7y ago
  I can see how it’s not obvious, but the parentheses at the end are the answer to that (or maybe they were edited in after your question). You can use TLS without ciphering but with signatures to authenticate messages.

thepete2 7y ago

That's a really stupid thing about cell phones. We all carry these amazing radios with us, but they become completely useless once there is no tower around. Why can't phones be used as walkie-talkies?

Polylactic_acid 7y ago
Because the person you want to contact is unlikely to be within radio distance.
- thepete2 7y ago
  yes, but how cool would that be?
  - state_less 7y ago
    I think it would be pretty cool too. For those times when you are out of range of a tower and in range of each other, you could chat up your pals out at the campsite or whathaveyou. And if you and your ilk load some kind of meshing or 'router app' on these advanced (non-hobbled) handheld radios, you might have a better chance of getting in touch with that out of range person by routing packets across radios until you're at the internet. Even if you limit the bandwidth to text messages for this feature, it could be a real lifesaver for folks needing to get emergency messages out.
    - Something1234 7y ago
      What about the push to talk feature on some work phones?
    - lawfulcactus 7y ago
      You're effectively talking about APRS[1]. [1] http://www.aprs.org http://www.aprs.org
      - state_less 7y ago
        Thanks, it's fun to read through these links!
BerislavLopac 7y ago
I understand they can: http://www.servalproject.org/ http://www.servalproject.org/