Toby Bloch doesn’t look like your average internet installer. Instead of a uniform with an embroidered company logo, he wears well-worn jeans and a thick canvas jacket. Instead of a van, he drives a Subaru — the back of which is crammed to the gills with a disorderly heap of hand tools, cables, and weird electronics with antennas sticking out. And unlike most techs, he’s not going to make a penny for the appointment he’s going to be in Brooklyn.
But oddly enough, that’s the point. Bloch doesn’t work like a normal internet installer because he isn’t. He doesn’t work for Comcast or Spectrum or Verizon or any other major Internet Service Provider (ISP). He is a volunteer at NYC mesh: A guerrilla ISP that helps residents get online without paying a monthly fee to the above telecom companies.
The group has been making waves in New York City by building their DIY broadband network in recent years — but alternative internet access isn’t the only thing NYC Mesh is building. As it spreads node by node across the city, it’s also creating a blueprint – one for other communities across the country to follow as they hold their own against monopolistic ISPs.
“It’s really eye-opening to me how poorly Verizon and Spectrum are running their networks in terms of the bandwidth they can provide to their customers,” Bloch told Digital Trends.
Table of Contents
The case for DIY Internet
Internet connectivity in the United States is lackluster at best. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 19 million Americans don’t have access to reliable internet. Just to put that in context, that’s 6% of the country’s total population and roughly the total population of New York State, the fourth most populous state.
Internet speeds plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic as more and more people worked from home. If you’ve felt like your internet speeds have dropped during the pandemic, don’t imagine it. Speeds dropped in New York 24%.
But even with stagnating or declining speeds, broadband prices have risen sharply in recent years. According to a 2020 New America report, the average price for internet plans was more than $62/month nationwide. It’s significantly higher in places like Atlanta — more than $100 a month on average.

What is behind these high prices? It’s probably a lack of competition. Most internet services in the US are controlled by just a handful of large corporations. According to a 2020 report by the Institute for Local Self Reliance, nearly 50 million people only have access to broadband internet through a single provider. Another 47 million have access only through Comcast or charter.
In New York, this problem is compounded. In 2008, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg brokered a deal with Verizon that would revolutionize Internet access in America’s largest city. The deal allowed the provider to take over Time Warner’s local monopoly, effectively ending it. But adding another ISP to the mix didn’t solve all of the city’s problems. To date, 20% of New Yorkers don’t have internet access at home.
Now New Yorkers are fed up, and that’s where NYC Mesh comes in.
Going Guerrilla: This is how the DIY internet installation works
So how exactly do you sign up for and have the guerrilla broadband service installed? Believe it or not, it’s surprisingly easy. When a customer contacts NYC Mesh, a request goes to a Slack channel, which hosts a network of volunteer technicians. All operations are decentralized.
“Mesh is a really open, grassroots organization. I think that’s one of the things that really attracts me,” Bloch said, adding, “It’s a very flat organization. It is intended to be a bunch of volunteers, there are no full-time staff or paid staff.”

Once a volunteer technician replies, he asks the prospective customer to provide some panoramic images on their rooftop so Mesh volunteers can see if the prospective member could have access to the network. If approved, the new member would have a wireless node on their roof. This node is connected to an adjacent node in another building.
Ultimately, all of these nodes connect to a handful of primary exchange points called “supernodes,” which provide direct access to the internet — all without the need for large ISPs to act as intermediaries. The only limitation really is that a customer must be within range of a node for this to work.
With this technology, Mesh is able to provide reliable and cheaper internet access for much of the city. Once installed, members pay what they can — although it’s recommended to pay between $20 and $60 per month. The group is entirely dependent on donations.
Expanding the Band: DIY Internet in NYC and Beyond
NYC Mesh has grown a lot in recent years, but Bloch is quick to point out that what the organization does in New York is just a small part of the bigger picture. Ultimately, Mesh wants to open the floodgates and make these kinds of homemade internet techniques more accessible to the masses. The group does not want to be a gatekeeper.
“What we’re doing is really democratizing this technology and knowledge,” Bloch said, adding, “we’re spreading it and getting it into the hands of as many people as possible.”
Luckily they got help. While Mesh is one of the larger alternative ISPs in the country, it’s certainly not the only one out there. NYC is also home to a separate municipal broadband cooperative called People’s choicewhile a similar organization called Starry serves the residents of Boston.

So does this DIY internet riot have what it takes to spread nationwide?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is a bit murky. given the regulatory landscape, it is much easier for NYC Mesh to put pressure on the big telecoms than it is for similar organizations in other parts of the country. Several states — including Texas, Minnesota, and Washington state — have regulatory barriers that either incentivize or ban community-based Wi-Fi networks.
There was even one advance at the federal level in 2021 to lock them down altogether. This was introduced by Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Bob Latta (R-Ohio), both of whom serve on the House Commerce Committee and the Subcommittee for Communications and Technology.
Consequently, McMorris Rogers has a huge conflict of interest. She has already received political donations from America’s largest telecommunications companies for her re-election campaign. According to the federal election commission, Through their various PACS, Verizon Communications donated a total of $5,000, Comcast $10,000 and Charter $5,000 ahead of their 2022 main race.
In addition to the legal challenges at the federal level, the success of the home internet requires access to high points, poles and the roofs of residential buildings to build a network of nodes. That makes a broader movement more of an uphill battle, since not every city in the US is as populous or as high-rise as NYC. Setting up a community-powered mesh network in a flatter, more sprawling suburb would be difficult.
Still, there’s good reason to hope that NYC Mesh’s methods could start a trend.
While they may not work everywhere, collectively, organizations like Mesh could put enough pressure on telecom giants in major metropolitan areas that major ISPs like Comcast and Verizon might be forced to respond. And no matter how that turns out, whether that means increasing your coverage or cutting prices to stay competitive, the end result for consumers will be the same: cheaper, more accessible, and more reliable internet.
Editor’s Recommendations
-
Cheaper, faster internet for homes could be coming soon
-
Elon Musk suggests Starlink now has 250,000 customers
-
SpaceX is deploying more Starlink internet satellites in preparation for the premium service
-
You are about to pay more for Amazon Prime
-
Wi-Fi 6 will soon become mainstream and herald the Metaverse
This article was previously published on Source link