¶ Medium Fast Migration FAQ
¶ Why are we changing?
The Mesh has grown significantly over the last few months, and we've reached a point now where the Long Fast default preset can no longer support the number of nodes we have. Our network now spans all the way from the Sunshine coast, right down to Northern New South Wales. It's difficult to say exactly how many nodes there are, but at any point in time there are around 100 active. In the NodeDB on Dave's home node, it has seen 299 unique nodes over time…
Meshtastic recommends a maximum of 60 nodes in a mesh on the Long Fast preset… which we have well and truly passed.
If you've noted the mesh has been significantly less reliable of late… this is most likely why. It used to be range issues, but lately most issues that we've seen can be attributed to congestion and packet collision (multiple nodes trying to broadcast at the same time), which this migration is aimed to fix.
¶ How do I change?
Check out the configuration guides to changing to medium fast here!
¶ Why Medium Fast?
A group of mesh scientists ran a series of range and throughput tests on different presets across Brisbane, kicked off by by our fearless mesh migration leader Fraz on Discord.
The result of those experiments was that the faster (and shorter range) profiles tested didn't quite have the reach we needed to jump from the inner city to the broader reaches of our mesh. In testing, Medium Fast yielded the best mix of significantly better throughput (and therefore capacity), while still having seemingly equal (or at least near enough) range that we could stay connected.
¶ What happens if I don't change?
Nodes can only “hear" each other when they're on the same preset and frequency slot. If you stay behind on Long Fast / 20, you won't be able to see any of the nodes that have migrated.
You can, of course, stay behind on Long Fast if you choose to, but be aware that you won't see messages or nodes from the majority of users anymore - only those other nodes that remain on Long Fast. Don't do it, we will miss you! Come to the dark side!
¶ How will new people know to do this?
There are lots of people joining the mesh each week, and most are going to start on Long Fast. There is discussion on Discord about putting up some “dual mode” nodes that are both Long Fast and Medium Fast. These may just beacon out a message to change your settings, or they may end up providing a “bridge” to relay messages between both presets. Follow along on Discord for more info, or if you have an idea or want to help out, please chip in!
Before you change over, it would be appreciated if you could send out a message and link people to this page so they don't get left behind!
¶ I changed, but I can't see anyone!
Here are a couple of things to try…
Wait a sec…
Beacons on the mesh can be infrequent… wait at least 15-20 minutes after making the change to see if you node list is updating.
Checking your channel default channel…
After you change, channel 0 ("Long Fast") should now have renamed to “Medium Fast”.
If it hasn't you may need to edit your channels, and clear the “Channel Name” field and click “Send”.
By default this should change by itself, but if you've explicitly set it to “LongFast” previously, then you may need to make this change.
Double-check your settings…
Just to be safe, double check the configuration guides for your device type and make sure the settings are there (don't forget the frequency slot – this is important if channel 0 on your device is not the default public channel).
Reach out for help on Discord…