Wi-Fi HaLow and emerging tech

What Wi-Fi HaLow is

Wi-Fi HaLow is the marketing name for IEEE 802.11ah, published in 2017. According to Wikipedia:

• It operates below 1 GHz, at about 860 to 900 MHz, in licence-exempt ISM bands.
• Channel widths are 1 to 16 MHz.
• The radius is about 1 km.
• The data rate reaches 433.3 Mbit/s only as a theoretical ceiling, with the maximum number of spatial streams and 16 MHz channels. Practical rates on narrow channels at range are far lower.

Why it interests mesh builders: it is a Wi-Fi-family protocol (so it carries ordinary IP traffic) that uses lower frequencies than 2.4 or 5 GHz, which usually means better penetration of walls and foliage. That combination does not exist in LoRa, which is much slower, or in standard 5 GHz Wi-Fi, which needs near line of sight. See LoRa vs Wi-Fi mesh for the two ends of the range it sits between.

We did not obtain vendor performance claims from Morse Micro, the HaLow vendor whose hardware is discussed below: its technology page returned an error when we tried it. We therefore give no real-world HaLow throughput or range figures.

Availability in the UK and EU

• Hardware, April 2025. In a Morse Micro community thread dated 24 April 2025, a Morse Micro staff member said the HaLowLink 1 uses an RF module with a filter limiting it to ITU Region 2 (902 to 928 MHz), and that a UK/EU-frequency version was "not available yet". The same reply said Morse Micro's "driver and chip fully support the UK regulatory requirements, including power levels and duty cycle". That is a vendor statement from April 2025, so it may be out of date.
• Hardware, 2026. On the Morse Micro forum (January to April 2026), an "Understanding EU868 restrictions" thread says that on EU regions the HaLowLink 2's ad-hoc and 802.11s mesh modes are unavailable, and a staff member says a restrictive duty cycle "makes the performance of mesh modes quite bad". A thread from August to October 2026 reports a reseller saying regular persons cannot order a HaLowLink 2 "due to the CE/UKCA restrictions on this part"; Morse staff replied on 15 October 2026 that "there is some additional documentation required". We found no UK retail confirmation, so whether a private UK buyer can currently purchase one remains unconfirmed.
• Which UK frequency. Ofcom IR 2030 v1.16 (published 7 April 2026), row IR2030/7/3, covers wideband data devices in 863 to 868 MHz at 25 mW e.r.p. with a maximum channel bandwidth of 1 MHz. Row IR2030/7/5 covers 916.4 to 919.4 MHz at 25 mW e.r.p. (600 kHz to 1 MHz channels, 10% duty cycle for access points, 2.8% otherwise).
• Regulation. No Ofcom document we read names HaLow or 802.11ah. The licence-exempt rules are technology-neutral: a HaLow device restricted to 1 MHz channels and the access rules listed in those rows plausibly fits, while the wider HaLow modes (2 MHz and above) would not. Ofcom's 2025 to 2026 licence-exemption updates (consultation of 17 January 2025; statement of 27 October 2025; Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/396, in force 29 April 2026) did not add a HaLow-specific rule. We could not read the 27 October 2025 statement itself, because Ofcom blocked our automated requests. Whether a given HaLow product is legal for private use in the UK is unconfirmed. Ask Ofcom, and check the vendor's declaration of conformity for the product.

Even if HaLow becomes available in the UK, a hardware ecosystem takes time. Existing community Wi-Fi networks (NYC Mesh, Freifunk) run on conventional Wi-Fi hardware, and none of the sources we read describes a community mesh built on HaLow.

LoRa at 2.4 GHz

Some LoRa chips operate at 2.4 GHz. Meshtastic's hardware documentation lists devices with the SX1280 (2.4 GHz) radio but "strongly" recommends SX126x or LR11xx parts. For the UK, the practical choice remains the 868 MHz band: see hardware buyer's guide.

Direct-to-cell satellite

Satellites that connect to unmodified phones are an emerging alternative route for emergency messaging, not a mesh. According to Wikipedia's overview:

• Starlink's service (a T-Mobile partnership announced in 2022, rebranded Starlink Mobile in 2026) offers a 4G connection from a limited range of standard phones via partner operators.
• About 650 of roughly 9,800 Starlink satellites supported it as of February 2026.
• Legacy LEO phone systems manage 2.4 to 9.6 kbit/s.

Wikipedia's article now also says Virgin Media O2 offers Starlink Mobile in the UK. We did not research the UK service's coverage, price or terms, so this page makes no claim beyond that. It is also operated by a single provider, so it shares part of the weakness described in the ISP as a single point of failure.

What we did not cover

We gathered no sources for 60 GHz mesh systems (such as 802.11ad/ay or Terragraph), Wi-Fi 7 mesh or satellite internet as a mesh uplink, so we make no claims about them. If you see them promoted for community mesh use, check whether the claim comes from a vendor, and whether the hardware is legal and available in your country. For what is possible with today's hardware, see what you can actually do.