- These days, you know, internet is this human right
that everyone needs in order to live their lives.
Except that it isn't.
- ‘1.5 million New Yorkers lack home broadband access,
and it's all bluntly about the profit motive.’
-They carve out different areas so they don't have to compete.
- You wanna be on the internet?
You don't have another option.
- They have a monopoly, basically.
- But a group of volunteers in New York City
is fighting back.
They're banding together to provide internet
at little to no cost.
And it could be a model for bringing more people online
and finally bridging the digital divide.
- The idea is to basically take back ownership
of their own network,
instead of relying on the big cable monopolies
to do it for them.
At one point, you just have to stand up and say,
"There's gotta be a better way."
- Are you using the NYC Mesh now?
Yeah, we're going over it now.
- I'm Brian Hall, I helped start NYC Mesh
about seven years ago.
- NYC Mesh is a community-led nonprofit,
expanding internet service to areas
where there are few provider options,
or where the existing provider options are unaffordable.
- ‘1.5 million people in the city,
mainly low-income people of color,
lack both home and wireless broadband service.’
- In New York,
there are a few large service providers.
And agreements between those providers in the city
that promised to expand coverage for years never happened.
So the net result is that neighborhoods
with the most service options tend to be wealthier.
- For-profit business,
it just goes where the money is.
- Providers invest in infrastructure
where they know they can make more money.
But that leaves everyone else with little choice.
Where there is no competition,
there's little market force to drive down prices.
So even if a provider offers service,
many can't afford it.
- I hear people getting billed over $100
they'd see their price goes up,
just because they realized,
you know, the cable companies know,
"There's no other options in your area.
What are you gonna do?"
- And that's what led Daniel to NYC Mesh.
After frustrations with his existing provider,
he found the service,
and is now both a customer and a volunteer
who helps install antennas and routers
for new members like Danielle,
who've made the jump to the service
after similarly bad experiences.
- It was terrible.
It rhymed with mectrum and it started with an S.
Super unreliable, which became even more noticeable
once the pandemic started,
because I would be in the middle of an online exam
and my internet would go out.
- What they give you for the price is so bad
and so unusable that, you know, at one point,
you just have to stand up and say,
"There's gotta be a better way."
So this is sort of where NYC Mesh is born out of.
Let's do this.
- NYC Mesh is different than traditional providers
in both its tech and its approach.
On the tech side,
NYC Mesh has so-called "supernodes",
which are powered by fiber connections
and mounted high up in the city.
Those supernodes distribute signals
to smaller hubs and routers around the city,
thus creating the Mesh network.
- So for install today on Wilson Avenue,
we have a couple options.
From the panorama,
we were able to discern that we have line of sight
to two of our hubs.
We might get better signal from Saratoga,
but we might get better speed from Vernon, depending.
At each building or "node," you have a smaller antenna
that kind of looks like a dish, and a repeater antenna,
that basically both connects over to the hub,
and then also is able to locally spread wifi in that block,
which makes it a lot easier, and a lot cheaper,
for people on that same block to connect in the future.
- And service fees are donation-based.
NYC Mesh suggest a $20 to $60 monthly donation
based on what you can afford.
But those who need it get service free of charge.
- We keep our costs really low,
and if your card gets canceled, we will never cut you off.
If you can't afford internet, you still should get internet.
- All right, we are elevated.
All right, let's all go home. I'm kidding.
- The whole operation is run by volunteers.
Customers pay up front for the hardware,
with subsidies available for those who need it.
But all installations are done by volunteers.
Volunteers also troubleshoot
and fix connectivity problems as they arise.
- At the beginning it was, you know, your typical tech guys.
And now it's just everybody.
- The antenna we just installed today,
those are Danielle's now. She owns them.
And other people who then buy their antennas,
can connect to her antenna and become part of the Mesh.
So it's really just all of these, like,
individual community members.
It's not, like, one person or one company
that decide what the rules are, essentially.
It's just, we all do that together.
- All right. Let's see if I get internet.
Sweet!
- Okay, 80 megabits. And we're- okay!
- More than that.
- That feeling of when it worked,
and I was able to get, like, a good speed,
and it was working, and I was just like,
"This is unreal.
Why don't more people know about this?"
- Thank you, Mesh.
- One thing I hear a lot is like,
"How does this scale?"
When you build a network that is intrinsically dependent
on your infrastructure being located in strategic positions,
and being able to access as many people as possible,
you really need a community behind that.
I'm able to reach out to some of my neighbors
to see if they're having issues.
We can collaborate on things.
We can help other people who are around,
connected to the same hub.
And we can all work together on these solutions.
And that's what makes the Mesh happen.
- To make up for earlier missteps,
New York has also rolled out an Internet Master Plan,
designed to get more people online.
That plan includes ways for community efforts,
like NYC Mesh, to grow.
Such as increasing permissions for them to install
nodes on more rooftops and on streetlights,
which expands the Mesh network.
- That's sort of the idea why we want to build more hubs
in more neighborhoods,
so we can ensure those really fast speeds for everyone.
- NYC Mesh isn't the first service of its kind.
In fact, the largest community-run internet network
is in Spain, and consists of nearly 40,000 nodes.
But these efforts could provide a roadmap
for communities all around the world
to take control over their ability to get online.
- No one in this country thought we could do infrastructure
with a community group, and we're doing it!
And you can do amazing things just by organizing.
- The more that the community can sort of, like, lift us up,
the more we can essentially compete with these big names,
and provide a better, cheaper, I think friendlier, alternative.