Subj : Internet transit alternatives
To   : Deon George
From : Kostie Muirhead
Date : Sat Jun 05 2021 09:28 am

  Re: Internet transit alternatives
  By: Deon George to Kostie Muirhead on Sat Jun 05 2021 10:59 am

 DG> I've been trying to read up on alternative (to the internet) methods of
 DG> connecting BBSes together - and was wondering if LoRa could be used.

Yeah, there seem to be a few of us with similar curiosities and ambitions that
way. That shows some promise for adoption and hobbyist attraction :)

 DG> Everything I've been reading hints at IOT devices, which I am assuming
 DG> means low (status like) traffic. 
 DG> Could LoRa be used to transmit mail packets between peers?

The really easily accessible LoRa information, and all the off the shelf
modules are geared and directed towards IOT use. And you get far better range 
and connection reliability at lower link rates. Given that dialup speeds are 
typical, people tend to write it off for more than signalling use. I have found 
a couple projects that use peer to peer for exchanging data like sms messages 
and email. There's no reason it couldn't transfer mail packets, and that's one 
of the use cases I want to explore. I'd like to have a terminal node via LoRa 
as well, but even if it ends up having to be more of a mailserver/nntp server 
type link it could be a huge win I think.

 DG> I think the range can be around 20klm - can it?
 DG> I know nothing about this technology, so I'm curious...

That's dependent on several factors, but a low data rate link with good 
antennas with line of site in a rural environment should be able to hit those 
sorts of distances. From what I've read of experiences of people setting up 
longer links, 1-10 KM at dialup data rates is fairly achievable in an urban 
environment.

I'm still largely in the research stage, but have a box of tranceivers coming 
to start playing with. They've just been in customs processing limbo, which can 
take a while when dealing with the speed demons in Canadian customs... As soon 
as I have them in hand I'll be able to experiment more directly and report.
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