“Less efficient” is quite a misnomer here, since the meshtastic network mainly has to work around the regulations, which leaves it only small timeframes for transmitting. When such a project can only transmit for a few minutes per hour, then naturally it has way less bandwidth overall
It “works around legislation” by using a sub gigahertz open band that wasn’t designed for mobile comms. Lora was designed for low bandwidth M2M communications which is why it’s allocated 13 odd MHz and in a band that’s good for long range. That band is about the same size as a typical cellular carrier frequency band but as I said cellular carriers have the infrastructure and equipment to make efficient use of it, dividing it up between cells and reusing across cells. That’s the only way to get high bandwidth comms out of sub gigahertz frequencies. Even then carriers also supplement their longer range sub gigahertz with higher frequency bands in denser areas.
“Less efficient” is quite a misnomer here, since the meshtastic network mainly has to work around the regulations, which leaves it only small timeframes for transmitting. When such a project can only transmit for a few minutes per hour, then naturally it has way less bandwidth overall
It “works around legislation” by using a sub gigahertz open band that wasn’t designed for mobile comms. Lora was designed for low bandwidth M2M communications which is why it’s allocated 13 odd MHz and in a band that’s good for long range. That band is about the same size as a typical cellular carrier frequency band but as I said cellular carriers have the infrastructure and equipment to make efficient use of it, dividing it up between cells and reusing across cells. That’s the only way to get high bandwidth comms out of sub gigahertz frequencies. Even then carriers also supplement their longer range sub gigahertz with higher frequency bands in denser areas.