Off grid communication is an important topic. During a disaster the need to communicate will be greater than ever. Cell phone service will go down. Ham radios will work if you have a radio and a license. Walkie talkies will work for short distance comms. Walkies though are not a private band. Anyone with a radio on the same channel can hear you. Same goes for CB radios. All need special equipment. A cell phone is a fancy two-way radio. Why can’t we just use them for off grid communication. With Serval Mesh you can.

Serval Mesh

Serval Mesh is an app that runs on the Android platform. It creates a network over WiFi. When you connect to this network you are able to call other phones on the network. You can use your same phone number. If there is no WiFi available you can create a network with one phone to others. You can use it without any extra equipment. Just download the free app. Set up is easy and only takes a few minutes. Now you have off grid communication.

Testing

I’ve been playing around with this for a few months now. I’ve tried it connecting to a home WiFi network. I was able to make a call from outside in the street. Probably 50ft away through walls. So not very far. Mikes WiFi router is also junk. I used it up at Dual Homestead with Dave. I created a hotspot with one phone and connected to it with the other. This time I got further away. I walked maybe 300 ft away and around a corner. To be honest if I had stayed within line of sight It’s possible to go further. WiFi has about a 2 mile distance. More if you really play with it. You will spend a lot on antennas though.

My plan is to blast WiFi to all of Dual Homestead. This will give internet, cell phone coverage and extend the serval mesh network for off grid communication. I might get crazy and try to blast a signal to friends. Having the property covered in WiFi will allow us off grid comms that are secure.

Issues

Serval Mesh is not the perfect solution for off grid communication. WiFi has some serious distance limitations. Serval is doing work on range extenders. Nothing commercial or off the shelf yet. I am not interested in wiring and programing an Arduino board. I’ll document how I wire up the homestead so you can see. Another problem was in lag. I noticed the further away I got lag became very noticeable. It would take a long time to hear a reply back. I think this was the poor quality of the network.

Off Grid Communication

For a survival community that has power this would be great. Serval Mesh would allow calling like normal. Running the WiFi network off solar would be easy. Keep cell phones charged for off grid communication only. Even with the limited distance it would be plenty for a camp or small village. With Serval you can sent text and files as well. Being able to send text and pictures on patrol is great.

Serval Mesh is not THE solution for off grid communication. It is another weapon in your arsenal. I like that it is simple and familiar. You wife and kids might not geek out on a ham radio. With Serval mesh you just make phone calls. It’s familiar and comforting. Do not overlook keeping things familiar during a collapse. In stressful times you will fall back on what is normal.