LoRa mesh vs Wi-Fi HaLow

LoRa mesh is legal and buyable in the UK today; Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) carries IP traffic but its UK status is unconfirmed.

At a glance

	LoRa mesh	Wi-Fi HaLow (IEEE 802.11ah)
Standard	LoRa modulation, with Meshtastic, MeshCore or Reticulum on top	IEEE 802.11ah, published 2017
Band	UK: 868 MHz short-range-device band, for example 869.40 to 869.65 MHz at 500 mW e.r.p. and 10% duty cycle	Sub-1 GHz, about 860 to 900 MHz generally; UK band not confirmed (see below)
Data rate	Meshtastic presets 0.34 to 10.94 kbps in `EU_868`; LoRa overall 0.3 to 27 kbit/s	433.3 Mbit/s theoretical ceiling with maximum streams and 16 MHz channels; practical rates on narrow channels at range are far lower
Range	Wikipedia gives about 10 km practical; community record 331 km (a claim); built-up areas far less	About 1 km radius per Wikipedia; no vendor range data obtained
What it carries	Text, position, telemetry; not internet browsing	Ordinary IP traffic, as with other Wi-Fi
Power use	Sleep modes documented, no figures	Aimed at low-power devices; no comparative figures read
UK hardware	Many 868 MHz boards on sale	Not confirmed: see below
UK authorisation	Licence-exempt within IR 2030 limits	Not confirmed
Community adoption	Large; see find a local mesh	No community mesh on HaLow found in any source we read
Mesh mode	Native multi-hop in all three stacks	Not confirmed

Key differences

Where each sits

HaLow sits between LoRa (very slow, very low power) and 5 GHz Wi-Fi (fast, needs close to line of sight). Its appeal is an IP-capable link with sub-GHz wall and foliage penetration. LoRa trades speed for reach and carries only small messages; see LoRa vs Wi-Fi mesh for the full trade-off and what you can actually do.

What they carry

A LoRa mesh cannot browse the web or stream video. HaLow is part of the Wi-Fi family, so in principle it carries normal IP traffic. In practice the useful rate depends on channel width, and the UK allowance is the open question.

Hardware status

On 24 April 2025 a Morse Micro staff member said the HaLowLink 1 was filtered to ITU Region 2 (902 to 928 MHz) and that a UK/EU version was "not available yet". The same reply said Morse Micro's chip and driver "fully support the UK regulatory requirements", which is a vendor statement. Later forum threads, which we only skimmed, discuss a HaLowLink 2 EU model and a reseller citing "CE/UKCA restrictions". We did not establish what that means for a private UK buyer.

Regulation

According to search results, Ofcom published a statement titled "Updating Wireless Telegraphy Licence Exemptions" on 27 October 2025 and later decided to make Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption)(Amendment)(No. 2) Regulations 2026. Ofcom blocked our automated requests, so we could not read either, and we could not confirm whether HaLow is authorised or in which bands.

One row in IR 2030 is a candidate: "Wideband Data Transmission" at 863 to 868 MHz, 25 mW e.r.p., with a maximum channel bandwidth of 1 MHz (Table 3.5 of the April 2026 v1.16 copy we read). Whether Ofcom intends this for 802.11ah is not confirmed. That is our reading of the table, not an Ofcom statement about HaLow. If it applied, a 1 MHz channel would sit at the narrow end of HaLow's range, and we have no real UK throughput figure.

In the UK

As of 29 October 2026 we could not confirm that HaLow is authorised for general UK use or sold in a UK-legal variant. Read the Ofcom pages for yourself:

Which should you choose?

You want something that works legally in the UK now: a LoRa mesh. Start with which mesh is right for you or flash Meshtastic.
You want broadband-class links: use conventional Wi-Fi equipment or a community Wi-Fi mesh. See join a community Wi-Fi mesh.
You are curious about HaLow: follow the Ofcom pages above and wait for confirmed UK hardware.
To estimate a LoRa link, use the link budget tool.

FAQ

Is Wi-Fi HaLow legal in the UK?

We could not confirm it. Ofcom's pages on licence exemptions were unreadable to our tools, and the one candidate row in IR 2030 is our own reading, not an Ofcom statement. Check Ofcom.

Can I buy a HaLow router in the UK?

We could not confirm UK-legal consumer hardware. In April 2025 the vendor said a UK/EU version of the HaLowLink 1 was not yet available, and 2026 threads mention CE/UKCA restrictions.

Is HaLow faster than LoRa?

On paper, yes by a wide margin: the theoretical ceiling is 433.3 Mbit/s against LoRa's 0.3 to 27 kbit/s. Practical HaLow rates on narrow channels at range are far lower, and we have no measured UK figure.

Will HaLow replace LoRa for mesh?

We cannot say. We found no community mesh built on HaLow, and the two differ in what they carry: HaLow can carry IP traffic, LoRa only short messages.