Post #1491311

2026-03-13 08:26 UTC

@kudra @daks Different problems show up at different stages of growth. I have seen it before with community networks even at small scale: - First people are enthusiastic about building the independent network. - Then the maintenance cost shows up, hardware fails and has to be replaced etc. - The less enthusiastic people demand reliability. - The more complex the network is, the higher the cost of maintenance and soon you need dedicated full time technicians. And suddenly, you are an ISP.

Replies (1)

@kudra@aus.social 2026-03-13 08:38

@marsik @daks ok, you're talking mainly about hardware/maintenance and the problems of initial tech people involved getting burnout and needing compensation for their work. I saw a lot of that in the early days of the internet with ISP conglomeration and small ISPs cashing out. Assumedly some of them were enthusiasts before being ISPs. But this scene seems to be more like HAM radio (with many of the same people, haha), and that makes it a bit different. That HAM radio clubs have never gone away, and have never been a target for commercialisation, gives me hope that mesh radio can be a different beast, and Reticulum a bridge between radio nerd world and civilians - many LoRa radios now are plug n play, (fairly) user friendly to non-nerds.

Open ##1491312