Everyone knows what it’s like to lose cell service. A burgeoning open source project called Meshtastic is filling the gap for when you’re in the middle of nowhere—or when disaster strikes.

Hypothetical: You wake up tomorrow morning to find a superstorm that developed overnight thanks to climate change has sparked a chain of events that abruptly ushers in a new ice age and alters human society as we know it. (Yes, this is the plot of The Day After Tomorrow. Stick with us.) All the communication networks you relied on are down. Your phone is basically worthless. The internet has functionally ceased to exist. But you need to connect with people you trust to get help and survive. What do you do? More importantly, how did you prepare?

Less Hollywood-esque versions of having no cell service or Wi-Fi happen all the time, of course; maybe you’re hiking in a secluded area, white-knuckling through a major natural disaster, or living under a repressive regime that cuts internet access to quash public protests. Fortunately, for all these scenarios, there’s a low-budget solution: Meshtastic.

...read more at wired.com