# Building a Community Mesh-Network ISP

In neighborhoods underserved by traditional broadband, a community mesh-network ISP can provide practical, locally operated internet access. Instead of connecting every subscriber directly to a central tower, rooftop radios forward traffic between nearby nodes until it reaches one of several fiber-backed gateways. This reduces infrastructure costs, but only when installations maintain clear line of sight and the network has enough redundant paths to tolerate weather, construction, and equipment failure.

## Network Architecture

Our deployment uses 60 GHz point-to-point links for the high-capacity rooftop backbone and 5 GHz radios where foliage or building geometry makes 60 GHz unreliable. Each site runs a small managed router, battery-backed power, and two independent wireless links whenever possible. Subscriber traffic is placed in per-building VLANs, while routing between infrastructure nodes uses Babel because it converges quickly when link quality changes.

```conf
interface mesh0
  type wireless
  rxcost 96
  hello-interval 4
  update-interval 16
```

## Capacity and Operations

Wireless bandwidth is shared, so advertised speeds must reflect busy-hour capacity rather than laboratory throughput. We collect latency, packet-loss, signal-strength, and airtime-utilization metrics from every backbone link, then upgrade routes that remain above 70 percent utilization during evening peaks. Gateways enforce fair-queueing to keep video calls responsive when large downloads saturate an upstream connection.

## Reliability and Security

Mesh routing does not automatically make the service resilient or secure. Gateway sites need diverse upstream providers, monitored battery runtime, spare radios, and documented failover procedures. Management traffic should use a separate encrypted network, device credentials must be unique, and subscriber isolation should prevent customers on the same access point from reaching one another directly.

## Community Governance

The hardest problems are often organizational rather than technical. Rooftop access agreements, maintenance responsibilities, acceptable-use rules, and pricing should be written clearly before service begins. A transparent budget and an elected operations committee help residents understand why subscription revenue must cover upstream transit, replacement hardware, insurance, and trained on-call support—not just the radios visible on their roofs.