Hawaii Meshnet

Powered by Aloha[1]

What are the new mesh networks?
Using a radio technology called Lora on unlicensed frequencies, anyone with an inexpensive computer the size of a matchbox can send text messages , location, and sensor data [2] using a network of similar radios.

Strength and weaknesses, at a glance

Pros:

  • supports the most hardware
  • offline map download (official app)
  • Automatic adverts help you see how is on the network within hours

Cons:

  • Mostly flood Routing
  • Automatic adverts take up airtime resulting in radios waiting
  • Routing is limited to 3 hops by default (7 max)
  • Offline messages mostly not implemented

Pros:

  • Better battery life
  • Routing nodes (repeaters) are
  • Better signal and airtime efficiency
  • Offline messages can be delivered to Room Servers
    Cons:
  • Messagable nodes (clients) do not auto-advertise
  • MQTT is only available on 3rd party firmware

Pros:

  • Supports multiple simultaneously: Lora, Internet, packet radio, etc.
  • Supports pictures, audio recordings and calls, short videos
  • Crowdsourced nodes can deliver your messages natively
  • It's a network, so apps are quickly built: games, group chat, BBS

Cons:

  • Not many nodes
  • Software can be difficult to work with
  • No default channel for "village square" chat

Leading Network Comparison

Max Hops Maturity Routing Advertisements GPS Sharing Network Size (2026-10)
Meshtastic 7 2023 flood automatic ✅ 130
Meshcore 64 2025 learned-path manual ✅ 65 
flowchart LR
  A[Node 1] --> B{Repeater}
  B <-->|Yes| C[Node 2]
  B -->|No| A

  1. Accuracy is not guaranteed, implied, or, in some cases, attempted. ↩︎

  2. Reticulum supports voice calls, images, and small videos. This statement is true for Lora meshing as these types of data packets are often better over faster links. ↩︎