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>The likely reason for discontinuing the LoRaWAN products is cost cutting. Sounds reasonable. When you can get modules to do LoraWan and Meshtastic for $35, th
by mikewarot 2y ago
>The likely reason for discontinuing the LoRaWAN products is cost cutting.
Sounds reasonable. When you can get modules to do LoraWan and Meshtastic for $35, there's no way Cisco can make their margins.
- stavros 2y agoMeshtastic seems like the coolest technology I'll never have a use for. What do you guys do with it? When cell signal is everywhere, what's the use for Meshtastic?
- jrockway 2y agoCell signal isn't always everywhere. A friend of mine wanted to shoot a documentary in the middle of nowhere. I made a couple of modules that have GPS and LoRa radios to show where the other group is at all times. Easier than reading GPS coordinates over the radio and plotting them on maps. This documentary never happened and so the project sits around collecting dust, but it was a fun weekend. (Note, this isn't quite LoRaWAN or Meshtastic, which implies you want to uplink this to the Internet, but the idea is that off-the-grid radio links are still useful.)
- mschuster91 2y ago> but the idea is that off-the-grid radio links are still useful They are, you might want to link up with your local amateur radio group ("hams" for whatever reason in the US) though, they specialize in such stuff.
- jrockway 2y agoI'm also a ham radio operator (extra). No ham for commercial purposes, which is what this would be, so I went the unlicensed route.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 2y agoIt’s good for music festivals in the middle of nowhere when cell service is either spotty or so overwhelmed with all the people.
- beardedmoose 2y agoI play airsoft in the middle of nowhere, when 300 people show up the cell towers can’t hold up and my phone signal is useless. Using LoRa radios we can still communicate long distances in the forest without using our voices. My second use case is I build airsoft and paintball digital flags and scoring boxes using LED strips and microcontrollers. I plan to test and use LoRa radios for them to communicate through the forest and relay game status or even allow refs to control things for dynamic gameplay.
- stavros 2y agoThat's pretty cool, thanks!
- martinkivi 2y agoThat's super cool. Do you publish your process of building these anywhere?
- beardedmoose 2y agoSadly no, I am still designing and testing the units in the field to make sure they can withstand the elements. I probably should though as I imagine quite a few people would be interested.
- mysterydip 2y agoWhen the cell towers all went out in Asheville and the surrounding region, I definitely wished we had a backup mesh network, even if only for emergency services.
- senorsmile 2y agoI read that there was in fact a meshtastic group that assisted emergency personnel.
- Saris 2y agoDefinitely not cell signal everywhere, the town I'm in has it, but go on a longer hiking trip into the mountains and you can potentially be 20-30 miles from the nearest house/road/person with zero cell service on any provider. Even just a few miles up the OHV trail near my house has no service anymore. Pretty much none of the mountain area around the valley does. That said I carry a garmin inreach, because while stuff like meshtastic is handy to link groups together and use for fun and utility, for safety you want something that works anywhere.
- RachelF 2y agoYes, it's deliberately a low bandwidth, cheap protocol. It's hard to make something with a big margin off it. Still, it's bad for Cisco's reputation to abandon support for existing customers.