How exactly is the word supposed to get out in dangerous dry windy conditions if the power is out, the cells are out, and the hams move out?
There have been attempts to create apps that allow a combination of store and forward messaging and ad hoc network creation so that messages could be literally carried from where there is no mobile network coverage to places where there is or to be relayed through other devices.
Now I put on my tinfoil hat: the problem is that in densely populated areas this would eat into the revenue that the network operator gets from SMS so no operators have promoted the idea and of course it would be easy to make it somewhat resistant to eavesdropping so no state will promote it either.
Actually I don't know if those things are true but it seems like a plausible reason for the lack of peer to peer capabilities in modern smartphones.
Wifi direct is becoming popular and makes this kind of thing possible. I've also seen hardware products for similar like the gotenna. You could have a party of people across a relatively large area (say a ski resort, trail network, or neighborhood) and have decent async connectivity for SMS like use between them.
Software products like Lifenet, Firechat, Bridgefy, and similar generally use wifi-direct or bluetooth to communicate and do support store and forward.
On the amateur radio side js8call does allow forwarding through 3rd parties and store and forward.
Granted the financial model for these kind of things is tricky, but they do seem to be getting more popular. But sure I don't expect any cell provider to help, and was pleasantly pleased when p2p/direct connections was added to android.
I was pretty interested in gotenna and wanted to add a DHT and internet gateway so that messages would be delivered globally if anyone in your mesh had an internet connection. They rejected my idea 8-(.
Comments
There have been attempts to create apps that allow a combination of store and forward messaging and ad hoc network creation so that messages could be literally carried from where there is no mobile network coverage to places where there is or to be relayed through other devices.
Now I put on my tinfoil hat: the problem is that in densely populated areas this would eat into the revenue that the network operator gets from SMS so no operators have promoted the idea and of course it would be easy to make it somewhat resistant to eavesdropping so no state will promote it either.
Actually I don't know if those things are true but it seems like a plausible reason for the lack of peer to peer capabilities in modern smartphones.
See https://www.computerworld.com/article/2510683/peer-to-peer--...
Wifi direct is becoming popular and makes this kind of thing possible. I've also seen hardware products for similar like the gotenna. You could have a party of people across a relatively large area (say a ski resort, trail network, or neighborhood) and have decent async connectivity for SMS like use between them.
Software products like Lifenet, Firechat, Bridgefy, and similar generally use wifi-direct or bluetooth to communicate and do support store and forward.
On the amateur radio side js8call does allow forwarding through 3rd parties and store and forward.
Granted the financial model for these kind of things is tricky, but they do seem to be getting more popular. But sure I don't expect any cell provider to help, and was pleasantly pleased when p2p/direct connections was added to android.
I was pretty interested in gotenna and wanted to add a DHT and internet gateway so that messages would be delivered globally if anyone in your mesh had an internet connection. They rejected my idea 8-(.