2019.08.06; Tuesday August 6th, 2019: New York City Neighbors Build Cheaper Way to Connect to Web - WSJ
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New York City Neighbors Build Cheaper Way to Connect to Web
NYC Mesh is an all-volunteer community creating its own high-speed internet service. 
Brian Hall, a member of the nonprofit NYC Mesh, installed a router on an East Village apartment building in Manhattan. Photo: Byron Smith for The Wall Street Journal
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By Anne Kadet
Aug. 6, 2019 10:00 am ET
Last week, on a sweltering Monday afternoon, Luke Gerke was pacing in front of his East Village home in Manhattan, engaged in that all-too-familiar pastime: Waiting for a technician to install his internet service.
Only in this case, the rep who showed up wasn’t a uniformed service person from Spectrum or Verizon. It was a smiling neighbor who lives blocks away. Dressed in black jeans and a ball cap, Brian Hall arrived towing his installation gear on a handcart.
"Hey Brian!" said Dr. Gerke.
Mr. Hall is a volunteer organizer with NYC Mesh, a band of New Yorkers building their own internet service.
The Mesh, as they call it, is a volunteer-run nonprofit. Members typically donate $20 a month for a high-speed connection that’s more than fast enough to stream video.
Commercial service providers turned internet access into business, said Mr. Hall, a software programmer who took a career break to devote himself to the Mesh. But that’s not how it has to be. "We’re creating our own network so we can turn it back into a free network," he said.
Dr. Gerke said he’s joining the Mesh because he wants to support an alternative. "I feel like the internet is a human right. I can afford Spectrum, but what if I couldn’t?" the radiologist asked. "What would I do?"
The Mesh also includes members such as Linda Justice, a retired East Village artist living on Social Security. She uses the service to send email from her 10-year-old computer.
"Sometimes if I don’t have money, I don’t pay, and then catch up the following month," she said. "They don’t bother me or harass me."
Up on the roof of Dr. Gerke’s building, which was sizzling in the 90-degree heat, Mr. Hall unpacked his kit—a roll of cable, pliers, wrenches, a battery pack—and pointed a small antenna toward a larger antenna several blocks south that the Mesh maintains as a hub serving the neighborhood.
The Mesh maintains a "super node" antenna and 31 hubs throughout lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn that collectively serve about 350 residences. It recently installed an additional super node in Sunset Park, expanding its territory deeper into Brooklyn.
Leslie Zhu, a fellow Mesh volunteer and a grad student studying data analytics, helped Mr. Hall test the signal strength. Many of the 50-odd Mesh volunteers are millennials like herself who are concerned about internet affordability, privacy and neutrality, Ms. Zhu said. They like the idea of a network operating under community rather than corporate control.
"Plus the people are nice," she said. "It’s a great community."
Leslie Zhu, a fellow NYC Mesh volunteer and a grad student studying data analytics, helped Brian Hall test the signal strength of a new rooftop router on an East Village apartment building in Manhattan. Photo: Byron Smith for The Wall Street Journal
An hour later, in Dr. Gerke’s apartment, the volunteers drilled a hole in an exterior wall for the Ethernet cable. While Mr. Hall is slim, he had a hard time reaching through a narrow window to snake the wire inside.
Installation usually takes three hours. New members have been paying a $110 hardware fee plus $50 for installer expenses. As more donations come in, the Mesh can start offering free installation to people who are broke, Mr. Hall said.
When it grows to about 1,000 members, he added, it can hire its first support person. Currently, members rely on volunteers to fix problems, a prospect some find alarming.
Indeed, a Spectrum spokesman said its standard rates—which start at $66 a month—represent an excellent value as they include installation by well-trained professional technicians and 24/7 service. Spectrum said it also offers a slower $15-a-month connection to eligible low-income families and seniors. Verizon declined to comment or reveal its Fios rates.
While it’s still small, the Mesh has come a long way since its beginnings as an informal meetup. It was a struggle to get anyone to join the network, said Mr. Hall, who installed the first antenna in 2014, connecting his East Village apartment to the nearby d.b.a. bar in Manhattan.
Service was spotty at first as volunteers tinkered with network architecture. "Whenever there was a heavy rain, it would go out for a day in the East Village," Mr. Hall said.
Even now, some members maintain a backup connection in case of outages.
But the fact that the Mesh is up and running with more than 300 members represents a singular accomplishment. It’s the only substantial community network of its kind in the U.S., said Katie Jordan, senior policy adviser for North America with the Internet Society, a global nonprofit advocating online access for all.
"We’re very grateful they’re leading the charge and doing so well," she said. "They’re creating a great model for other mesh networks."
Three hours into the installation effort, Mr. Hall fired up his laptop to test the connection speed in Dr. Gerke’s apartment: "68 megabits down and 69 up," he reported.
It was a strong connection, many times faster than the speed needed to stream high-definition video.
"This is awesome," said Dr. Gerke, who promptly named his wireless connection after his daughter.
The Mesh won’t replace Spectrum and Verizon any time soon, Mr. Hall said, but it gives New Yorkers another option. "It’s becoming part of the way the city does internet. You can become part of our community," he said.
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