Jonathan Bennett, core developer and co-founder of Meshtastic Solutions, and Tony Good, hardware designer and entrepreneur, talk about the evolution of Meshtastic from a grassroots mesh network to a tool with real commercial potential.

Meshtastic began as a communication system for hikers and adventurers operating beyond cell coverage. Today, it’s proving useful in disaster response, search and rescue, vehicle tracking, and other use cases where reliable, off-grid communication is essential. Jonathan explains how the core team, alongside a global group of contributors, is hardening the platform with better encryption, Linux support, and integration tools to make it easier for businesses to adopt.

Tony shares how he built a business around designing rugged, user-friendly Meshtastic cases and complete devices, helping users deploy the tech without needing to source and print their own enclosures. He highlights how demand for ready-made devices has grown as more public service organizations and small businesses explore using Meshtastic.

Together, they talk about:

• Meshtastic’s value in off-grid communication for emergency response and field operations
• Real-world examples including blackout recovery in Portugal and large-scale search and rescue
• How sensors are starting to be integrated to expand Meshtastic’s capabilities beyond messaging
• Opportunities to bridge small mesh networks with the internet using MQTT
• The role of Meshtastic Solutions in providing consulting and vendor partnerships to support adoption in business contexts

Meshtastic is at the start of a vertical shift from hobbyist project to deployable infrastructure—and this episode shows where it’s going next.

Links:

Company site: https://meshtastic.com/

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