Relay Mode Settings and Possibilities

[Ryu945]

From what I gathered from reading the documents, Router, Router_Late and Repeater are mostly used for well positioned nodes and depending on how well positioned they are depends on which ones you use. It appears that Router and Repeater have the same priority. While Router_Late has a lower priority (not 100% sure on this).

I am guessing since I have not found it yet that Client has lower priority then Router_Late. I was reading up on proper settings and noticed people say to have your node set to Client_Mute if there are a lot of nodes and not Client as that gets in the way of better placed nodes relaying messages. Isn't the entire point of Client to have the lowest relay priority node because the node is not in an ideal location? Wouldn`t you want moving relay nodes set to Client? If this is not the case, why not make a Client_Late role so you have a role to make sure communication gets through if all other nodes fail. Wouldn't you also want a Repeater_Later role as well?

Relay priority would look like this:

Router and Repeater
Router_Late and Repeater_Late
Client
Client_Late

Essentially, establish a detailed enough hierarchy for relaying messages so more ideal nodes always take priority but your not turning off potential relays that could be crucial for getting a message through.

[oasis6212]

Router late always retransmits regardless of hearing other nodes repeat the message. Its meant to cover local clusters that are cut off from the rest of the network, usually because of geography issues. Works like a bridge basically.

Problem is it sucks up airtime. So in certain circumstances it may be necessary but not ideal. In a mobile application it would be very wasteful. Client or client mute would be preffered. Client late would work no differently the router late, always retransmits regardless of hearing other nodes repeat the message.

Regular Client will still repeat the message if it doesnt hear another node repeat it. So it will fill the gap if all others fail.

I do think a priority client role would be good. For a node that's in a fairly decent location (like a rooftop) but not in an amazing location like a radio tower. Then client could just be last ditch effort to retransmit if it hears nothing repeat.

[Ryu945]

If I understand you correctly then Router, Relay and Client will not relay a message if they hear another node relay it but Router_Late will? Is the purpose of Late to have a path that will always retransmit because you know the well placed nodes in the area will not cover it? If this is the case then this seems like confusing terminology.

There needs to be some hierarchy system where all nodes can retransmit but they set their priority based on how good they are positioned. If I understand you correctly then it sounds like there are only two real levels.

1. Router and Relay
2. Client

Two levels doesn't seem detailed enough to cover the range of how good a relay is located. Even three levels would be a huge improvement as you can organize the levels into.

1. Tall tower/mountain
2. Short tower/top of house
3. Personal nodes.

No retransmission if someone else retransmits.

[oasis6212]

Router and repeater modes always repeat immediately. Too many routers in an area results in lots of collisions.

Router late repeats but waits till others have finished repeating

Client waits a tiny amount of time before it repeats but only repeats if it doesn't hear another node repeat first.

Client_mute never repeats.

This is the basic hierarchy. I believe signal strength of the received message also plays a role with which client repeats first. Not really sure on the details though.

I agree there should be a priority client mode for nodes placed on top of houses, that trumps regular clients. It seems like an obvious thing really but I'm guessing they have a good reason why they either can't implement it or see it as a potential issue if implemented.

[Ryu945]

Thankyou for the information. So anything with router in the name will always repeat regardless of hearing something else. It is only clients that will not repeat if it hears something. A Client_Late would be one way to put it. It has the same broadcast restrictions as Client but it broadcast late similar to Router_Late. Another possibility is to think of some name for something between Client and Router and make the default Client behavior operate as Client_Late. Then this new name will operate like Client does now. The reason for this is because most people would think they need to set their personal device they carry around to Client. Having three names would make things more obvious to people not as familiar with Meshtastic.

Either way would work though. The easiest way would probably be to add the Client_Late role.