Opportunistic data forwarding has proven to be a powerful technique to achieve a high throughput in wireless mesh networks. It proactively utilizes the link quality variation rather than fighting it. In this article, we propose a time-based coordination scheme of opportunistic forwarding, dubbed ExOR Compact, that uses network coding to provide a reliable data transfer service at the network layer. Computer simulation shows how the proposal stacks against the seminal work on opportunistic forwarding and traditional IP forwarding.