Introduction

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Last updated July 27, 2020 by Brian

NYC Mesh is a community network. This means that city residents take it upon themselves to maintain and grow the network. A massive amount of cooperation between many different people with many different skills is required to accomplish this, and this website is here to make sure that individuals who want to improve the network can get the knowledge and skills they need to do so.

Who should read this website

This website contains information about the technical implementation of the NYC Mesh network itself, along with ancillary information about the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of various NYC Mesh volunteer teams. Before reading this website, please read our FAQ. Many common questions are answered there, and this documentation is mostly written with the assumption that readers are already familiar with the answers to our most frequently asked questions.

Once you have already read our FAQ, then you should consider reading or referring to this website if:

  • you want to help expand the network by physically installing new nodes,
  • you have computer networking experience and want to help improve the network’s performance or security,
  • you plan to volunteer to monitor or otherwise maintain the network and have questions regarding the configuration of various hardware and software components, or
  • you are interested in knowing details about how NYC Mesh functions that are not already covered by the FAQ.

You should not read this website if:

  • you want us to connect your apartment, house, or building to the mesh. Instead, please go to our Get Connected (join request) form where you will be put in contact with one of our install teams.
  • there is a problem with your connection and you need assistance from an NYC Mesh volunteer technician. Please use our Request Support form to open a trouble ticket to get help with problems you cannot fix on your own.
  • you are a member of the press seeking the latest news about NYC Mesh. We publish press releases specifically for journalists on our main website’s Press page.
  • you are a member of the general public and are simply curious about our work. For this information, please read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on our main website, returning here only if the FAQ does not satiate your curiosity. :)

We are always excited to welcome new volunteers who want to help us continue providing affordable, fair, and fast Internet connectivity to our fair city and so we hope you find this guidebook useful.

Section Contents

  1. Additional Resources
  2. Getting Started
  3. Typical Installations