Building a free internet in East Bay

Internet access is increasingly vital to everyday life. Constant connectivity to a network has become the norm and expectation for most Americans. Despite functioning as a public utility, cell networks are controlled by a handful of for profit corporations. These corporations demand a high monthly price to for access.

We can do better!

The FCC recently opened a portion of the LTE spectrum to small network operators. This band is called CBRS. Using this spectrum, we can deploy our own network. LTE networks have much greater reach and flexibility than we could achive with wifi. A single tower site can blanket a neighborhood in reasonably fast broadband connectivity.

We believe our network should be for everyone, but we want to focus specifically on groups that are underserved and left behind by the current corporate infrastructure. We believe it should be possible to offer internet service for free.

In building and maintaining this network, we can offer our volunteers the chance to learn and develop technical skills that are otherwise very difficult to get access to.

At this stage we are in the process of deploying our routing core and initial tower site which will provide coverage to Downtown Oakland and East Oakland. We have a second tower site planned in Richmond.

If you are interested in helping out or just learning more, you can join our discord server.