diff --git a/src/freedombone b/src/freedombone
index 36a02a51..1833c85c 100755
--- a/src/freedombone
+++ b/src/freedombone
@@ -5714,6 +5714,10 @@ function time_synchronisation {
   if grep -Fxq "time_synchronisation" $COMPLETION_FILE; then
       return
   fi
+  # mesh peers typically don't sync over the internet
+  if [[ $SYSTEM_TYPE == "$VARIANT_MESH" ]]; then
+      return
+  fi
   #apt-get -y install tlsdate
 
   # building tlsdate from source is a workaround because of