LoRa radio
Lora radio in Networking & smart home
Criticized more than recommended, mainly for short range, limited bandwidth and proprietary chips; those who recommend it cite long-range, low-data sensor links and strong jamming resistance.
11 people recommended LoRa radio in Hacker News comments, 11 had mixed feelings and 15 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from the comments below.
37 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- mixed feelings
- 11
- warn against or regret it
- 15
The record
Recommended in 8 of 12 months
In 12 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 12 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 9% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 35 of the 39 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Short range and low bandwidth
“its limited chirp spread spectrum (CSS) based modulation is bad for any limited LoS environment”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “The Connectivity Standards Alliance Announces Zigbee 4.0 and Suzi” “It's limited to 27kb/s at best, and in practical conditions reaches more like 10km.”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Why can't Ukraine use LoRA instead of Starshield?” “LoRa is only good for very short text messages at somewhat long distance”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “BYOMesh – New LoRa mesh radio offers 100x the bandwidth” - Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “A/I shuts down”
Unreliable in practice, hyped
“LoRa as the centrepiece falls apart really quickly the moment someone somewhere decides they don’t want your WAN to exist anymore”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “FreakWAN: A floor-routing WAN implementing a chat over bare-LoRa (no LoRaWAN)” “It's a super weak hobbyist protocol with a lot of hype and marketing.”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed” “LoRa diverges too strongly when applied in the real world.”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “My First Meshtastic Network” - Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code”
Proprietary chips, not an open standard
“LoRa is not an open physical layer protocol standard, but rather an interesting niche chip product from a small manufacturer.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Flipper One – we need your help” “The physical layer is unavailable, but the link layer protocol spec is downloadable by anyone.”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Mobile carriers can get your GPS location” “LoRa radios themselves are all proprietary Semtech turf.”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Mobile carriers can get your GPS location” Blunt spectrum use, easy to detect
“It so clearly looks like such a blunt force user of spectrum.”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “BYOMesh – New LoRa mesh radio offers 100x the bandwidth” “Lora operates on very specific frequencies. It would be easy to spot you with an RF scanner.”
Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “Briar keeps Iran connected via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when the internet goes dark”
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Long-range, low-data sensor links
“Lora seems to be a great technology for remote sensors within a 1km of each other that can transmit occasional data.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code” “Long distance links with only a few bps or kbit/s are a solved problem (LoRa”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “How far can you push the range of Wi-Fi connectivity in an ideal environment?” “LoRa is another level. It works down to -146dBm.”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code” Good enough for simple applications
“the bandwidth should suffice for this sorta thing”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed” “Perfectly sufficient for our application.”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Open-source communications by bouncing signals off the Moon” Praised as useful, amazing tech
“immensely useful new tech and research that benefits many”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “LeCun has "zero concerns" about AI wiping out humanity, recent "rogue" incidents” “ELRS/LoRa is pretty amazing”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Ukraine's drone commander has Russian oil, troops and morale in his sights”
What people said
35 of the 39 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“which might be just what's needed”
“Useless for drones or missiles.”
“It's limited to 27kb/s at best, and in practical conditions reaches more like 10km.”
“immensely useful new tech and research that benefits many”
“For VHF/UHF/SHF you can use LoRa.”
“very short range and extremely bandwidth limited”
“Doesn't get more sovereign than that.”
“LoRa has rather iffy security.”
“It's a super weak hobbyist protocol with a lot of hype and marketing.”
“LoRa is dialup speeds at best”
“OTA updates are a PITA without some alternative channel.”
“the bandwidth should suffice for this sorta thing”
“Long distance links with only a few bps or kbit/s are a solved problem (LoRa”
“LoRA can do great things, but it is often misunderstood what LoRA actually does.”
“an awkward middle ground that creates even more problems”
“LoRa is not an open physical layer protocol standard, but rather an interesting niche chip product from a small manufacturer.”
“it’s fine but I’m not convinced the model doesn’t end up more stupid and less general”
“It so clearly looks like such a blunt force user of spectrum.”
“LoRa is only good for very short text messages at somewhat long distance”
“ELRS/LoRa is pretty amazing”
“Lora seems to be a great technology for remote sensors within a 1km of each other that can transmit occasional data.”
“LoRa is another level. It works down to -146dBm.”
“bad technology not worth our time”
“Lots of good things happen because of that: LoRA, QLoRA, DPO, RoPE”
“LoRA will work better than AM in a cave.”
“The physical layer is unavailable, but the link layer protocol spec is downloadable by anyone.”
“LoRa radios themselves are all proprietary Semtech turf.”
“Lora operates on very specific frequencies. It would be easy to spot you with an RF scanner.”
“it can theoretically handle a fair amount of jamming because of its insane processing gain”
“Its not useful for much else.”
“LoRa diverges too strongly when applied in the real world.”
“It's basically way better than LoRA under all respects”
“its limited chirp spread spectrum (CSS) based modulation is bad for any limited LoS environment”
“Perfectly sufficient for our application.”
“LoRa as the centrepiece falls apart really quickly the moment someone somewhere decides they don’t want your WAN to exist anymore”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.