# Community Mesh-Network ISP Planning Meeting **Date:** July 30, 2026 **Time:** 6:30–8:05 PM **Location:** Eastside Community Centre / Video call **Facilitator:** Maya Chen **Note-taker:** Luis Ortega ## Attendees - Maya Chen — Project coordinator - Luis Ortega — Network operations - Priya Nair — RF and infrastructure lead - Jamal Brooks — Community outreach - Erin Wallace — Finance and grants - Theo Martin — Volunteer coordinator - Councillor Nadia Patel — Municipal liaison - Samir Haddad — Eastside Housing Cooperative - Grace Kim — Resident representative ## Agenda 1. Review pilot-network performance 2. Confirm expansion area and technical approach 3. Discuss service plans and affordability 4. Review funding, permits, and procurement 5. Plan resident outreach and installations 6. Assign next steps ## Discussion Notes ### Pilot Performance - The pilot currently serves 47 households through 14 rooftop nodes. - Average evening download speed was 72 Mbps; median latency was 24 ms. - Two buildings experienced intermittent service during heavy rain. Priya believes water intrusion in outdoor connectors is the likely cause. - The network maintained service after one gateway failed, but available bandwidth dropped noticeably. - Support volume averaged four requests per week, mostly related to indoor Wi-Fi coverage rather than the mesh backhaul. ### Expansion Plan - The next phase will cover the Eastside Housing Cooperative and three adjacent blocks, representing approximately 180 additional households. - The preferred design uses two fiber-fed gateway sites with rooftop mesh nodes on participating buildings. - A third gateway may be added later if evening utilization exceeds 70% for three consecutive weeks. - Building access remains the main scheduling risk. The housing cooperative can provide roof access, but agreements are still needed from two privately owned buildings. - Equipment should support remote monitoring, automatic failover, and replaceable antennas. ### Service and Pricing - Members favored a simple residential plan instead of multiple speed tiers. - Proposed standard service: up to 100 Mbps for $35 per month. - A $15 community-access plan will be available to qualifying low-income households. - Installation will be free during the expansion campaign. Later installations may carry a fee based on actual equipment and labor costs. - No long-term contracts, data caps, or application-specific throttling will be used. - Residents will receive a plain-language acceptable-use and privacy policy before activation. ### Funding and Procurement - Current committed funding covers approximately 70% of the estimated expansion cost. - Erin identified a municipal connectivity grant that could close most of the remaining gap. - The group agreed not to depend on grant approval before ordering long-lead mounting hardware. - At least three vendor quotes will be requested for radios, enclosures, and battery backup equipment. - The budget should include spare radios and power supplies equal to 10% of deployed inventory. ### Outreach and Installations - Outreach will begin with a public information session and a door-to-door signup campaign. - Materials will be produced in English, French, Arabic, and simplified Chinese. - Volunteers will conduct basic site surveys using a standardized checklist; final rooftop approval will remain with the infrastructure team. - Installations will be scheduled building by building to reduce travel and setup time. - The support process will distinguish between network outages and problems with resident-owned devices. ## Decisions - Approve the Eastside Housing Cooperative and adjacent three blocks as the Phase 2 expansion area. - Build Phase 2 around two independent fiber-fed gateways. - Offer one standard residential plan at $35 per month and a qualifying community-access plan at $15 per month. - Provide free installation during the initial expansion campaign. - Maintain a no-contract, no-data-cap, network-neutral service policy. - Purchase weather-rated connectors and enclosures for all new outdoor installations. - Hold back 10% of radios and power supplies as operational spares. - Proceed with mounting-hardware procurement while the grant application is under review. - Schedule a readiness review before any resident activation dates are announced. ## Action Items - **Priya:** Inspect and reseal the two rain-affected pilot nodes by August 5. - **Luis:** Produce the Phase 2 network diagram, capacity estimate, and monitoring requirements by August 8. - **Erin:** Submit the municipal connectivity grant application by August 12. - **Erin and Priya:** Obtain three equipment quotes and prepare a procurement recommendation by August 15. - **Councillor Patel:** Confirm permit requirements for rooftop equipment and fiber entry points by August 10. - **Samir:** Provide roof-access schedules and building electrical-room contacts by August 6. - **Maya:** Draft rooftop access agreements for the two privately owned buildings by August 7. - **Jamal:** Organize the resident information session for the week of August 17. - **Jamal and Grace:** Review translated outreach materials with community volunteers by August 14. - **Theo:** Recruit and train eight volunteer site-survey teams by August 21. - **Luis:** Draft the outage-triage and resident support workflow by August 18. - **Maya and Erin:** Finalize eligibility documentation for the community-access plan by August 20. ## Open Questions - Whether the fiber provider can guarantee installation before October. - Whether battery backup should cover only gateway sites or selected relay nodes as well. - How community-access eligibility will be verified without collecting unnecessary personal information. - Whether indoor routers should be included, rented, or resident-supplied after the launch campaign. ## Next Meeting **Date:** August 13, 2026 **Time:** 6:30 PM **Primary focus:** Procurement approval, permits, grant status, and installation readiness.