What can you learn from other community networks?
As you think about your own needs for Internet connectivity, it is helpful to understand some of the examples of the hundreds of community networks already created. All over the world, people are coming together to build and maintain their own Internet connections by setting up municipal and community networks, cooperatives, and other complementary access solutions. They are connecting the unconnected. You can join them!
Key Points
- A community network can be as small as a single Wi-Fi hotspot or as large as a small country (if you count a federation of local networks linked to each other, like Guifinet in Spain).
- A community network can be in a remote area or in a huge city (like New York City Mesh).
- It can take the form of a series of ethernet cables (as in Cuba), a local cellular system (as in Mexico), or, most commonly, a Wi-Fi network (NYC Mesh and Guifinet supplement theirs with fiber backbone).
- It can provide services ranging from locally hosted offline resources to local-only voice calls to high-speed broadband connectivity.
Take Action
Read through the many success stories and see if any are close to your situation.
Based on the success stories and other examples, develop your initial vision of what your end goal will look like – how do you define “success”?
Learn More
- Community Networks Success Stories
- Impact Stories (Internet Society Foundation)
- Community Network Readiness Handbook
- Online Training Courses:
Image copyrights:
© Nyani Quarmyne, © Nyani Quarmyne, © Elyse Butler