Still, it's really frustrating that we have to pay intermediaries for their centralized infrastructure in order to have general-purpose private conversations, even though we have the technology to do it on a peer-to-peer basis.
I understand private traffic isn't in the spirit of amateur radio, but it's frustrating that the only alternative is to go through the oligopoly of cell-phone networks.
I still have "cyberpunk" dreams of wide area mesh networks between peers, owned by no one, available to anyone who can cobble together the right equipment. Obviously we'd need some limitations to keep people from stomping on each other's traffic, but surely there's a middle ground.
I understand private traffic isn't in the spirit of amateur radio, but it's frustrating that the only alternative is to go through the oligopoly of cell-phone networks.
I still have "cyberpunk" dreams of wide area mesh networks between peers, owned by no one, available to anyone who can cobble together the right equipment. Obviously we'd need some limitations to keep people from stomping on each other's traffic, but surely there's a middle ground.