Collaboration Proposal: Deploying MeshCore on an Italian Cooperative WISP infrastructure (Noinet)

[marcopolverari-cyber]

Hi MeshCore team (Scott, Liam, and community),

We are writing on behalf of Noinet, an Italian non-profit cooperative operating as a WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider). Our philosophy is based on a fundamental principle: the network is under the direct control of the users who use it. Our users are the member-owners of the infrastructure, which we consider a true "Common Good" to be protected. Therefore, the ownership and management of the network are widely distributed among all users, ensuring the infrastructure is never subject to financial speculation.

Following this grassroots approach, we provide Internet connectivity in our region (mostly provincial, rural, and mountainous areas) through our proprietary FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) network, with the goal of bridging the digital divide and building a resilient digital community.

We have been following the development of MeshCore with great interest. The efficiency of your protocol, the smart handling of routing roles, and the excellent app ecosystem have convinced us that this is the perfect technology to run alongside our traditional infrastructure.

Our goal is to launch a pilot project to create a long-range emergency and community messaging network for our members, integrating MeshCore directly into our existing setup.

Here is what Noinet can bring to the table to help test and expand MeshCore on a larger scale:

High-Altitude Infrastructure: We have access to dozens of towers, high-elevation sites, and dominant rooftops (our PoPs). We plan to install LoRa devices configured as Simple Repeaters with high-gain antennas to provide fixed, wide-area radio coverage over dozens of square kilometers.

Native TCP/IP Backhaul: Since we own our IP network, we can use nodes directly connected to our routers to bridge isolated geographic areas (e.g., two different valleys), routing MeshCore packets over our IP infrastructure.

Community-Driven Adoption: Because our users own the network, adoption happens organically. We want to provide them with pre-configured Companion devices and host Room Servers on our main nodes to act as digital bulletin boards for local alerts, weather updates, and community interactions.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this use case. Furthermore, we would greatly appreciate any advice on the most robust hardware (radio modules and antennas) for outdoor, 24/7 tower deployments as fixed repeaters.

We would be thrilled to collaborate, provide real-world field feedback, and help expand the MeshCore network in Italy.

Thank you for your amazing work,
Marco Polverari - The Noinet Team