Internet for the People: The Movement for Affordable, Community-Led Broadband

New York City (NYC) Mesh is not an internet service provider, but a grassroots, volunteer-run community network that aims to create an affordable, open and reliable network that's accessible to all New Yorkers for both daily and emergency internet use. To a layperson, the wireless mesh network—which relies on building-to-building line-of-sight connections—resembles the NYC subway: a circuitry of stations and routes where building nodes are the stations connecting to street level, and neighborhood hubs act as the transfer stations where you can reroute to several different subway lines. Providing donation-based internet access is part of NYC Mesh's objective to serve the underserved with the premise that communication should be free. Anyone is free to join, as long as they keep the network open and extend it to others. "We will never disconnect you for payment reasons," says NYC Mesh Founder and Lead Volunteer Brian Hall. Community-led broadband organizations like NYC Mesh won't overcome the divide on their own, but they offer a glimpse into what things might look like if there was free broadband for all.