When Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, knocking out power and communication for months, something unexpected happened. While corporate cell towers lay toppled and fiber lines severed, small groups began building their own internet networks. They strung cables between rooftops, configured donated routers, and created mesh networks that could keep neighborhoods connected even when the rest of the grid failed.

This wasn't just disaster response. It was a glimpse of a growing movement that's reshaping how we think about internet access itself.

Why Communities Are Building Their Own Internet

About 2.6 billion people still lack internet access. That's not primarily because they can't afford devices or don't know how to use them. The biggest barrier is infrastructure—or the lack of it. Major internet service providers simply won't build networks in areas they consider unprofitable.

This creates a profound inequality. In Missoula County, Montana, for example, roughly 15,000 of the county's 49,000 households can't get connections faster than 25/3 Mbps. That's barely enough for video calls or remote work. The problem isn't unique to rural America. Urban neighborhoods get skipped too, usually the ones that are poor or predominantly non-white.

Enter community networks: internet infrastructure built, managed, and operated by the people who use it. These aren't corporate ventures or government projects. They're cooperatives, volunteer organizations, and neighborhood collectives taking connectivity into their own hands.

How Mesh Networks Actually Work

Traditional internet relies on hierarchy. Your home connects to your ISP, which connects to larger networks, which eventually reach the content you want. Break any link in that chain and you're offline.

Mesh networks work differently. Instead of a pyramid, picture a web. Each device (called a node) connects to multiple other devices nearby. Data hops from node to node until it reaches its destination. If one node fails, the network routes around it automatically. There's no single point of failure.

The technology isn't new, but it's become remarkably accessible. A Meshtastic starter kit costs about $25 and can connect up to 80 devices using low-power radio signals. You don't need expensive infrastructure or technical expertise to get started.

These networks can sustain themselves with surprisingly few users. Research suggests just 20 to 30 households can make a wireless mesh network viable. The Missoula Valley Internet Cooperative launched with only $15,000 in seed funding for gateway hardware and antennas.

Real Networks, Real Impact

The Missoula Valley Internet Cooperative illustrates what's possible. Launched in December 2020, it now delivers 150 Mbps symmetrical service to over 50 households for $40 to $60 monthly. Compare that to what corporate ISPs charge for similar speeds—when they bother serving rural areas at all.

The network started in the Grant Creek neighborhood, covering 1.5 square miles with about 400 households. Volunteers handle everything: mounting antennas on rooftops, configuring routers, troubleshooting problems, teaching new members. The network runs entirely on user fees. No venture capital, no shareholders demanding quarterly growth.

NYC Mesh has grown into one of the world's largest community networks, spreading across multiple boroughs through a mix of rooftop nodes and volunteer installations. When commercial internet fails—whether from storms, construction accidents, or deliberate shutdowns—mesh networks keep running.

Networks Built for Connection, Not Profit

In Tunisia, the town of Sayada built its mesh network in just four days during a December 2013 workshop. About 25 daily participants deployed 11 rooftop sites covering roughly 70% of the town. The network doesn't just provide internet access. It hosts locally-stored Wikipedia, OpenStreetMaps, 2,500 free books in French, and collaborative editing tools.

This local hosting matters more than it might seem. When content lives on servers within the mesh, you can access it even when the connection to the broader internet drops. During protests, natural disasters, or government shutdowns, that resilience becomes critical.

In Ladakh, India, mesh networks help villages stay connected during harsh winters when road access disappears under feet of snow and power outages are routine. The network adapts to local conditions in ways corporate infrastructure never would.

Brazil's RAMA network serves a quilombo community—descendants of freed enslaved people—in Ribeirão Grande/Terra Seca. The project deliberately prioritizes young Black women as network maintainers. When faced with limited bandwidth, RAMA chose to provide weaker connections to 20 families rather than strong connectivity for just the five RAMA members. That's a fundamentally different calculation than a profit-maximizing corporation would make.

The Feminist Internet

Some community networks embed political values directly into their infrastructure. Fuxico, another Brazilian network, takes its name from a crafting technique that shapes leftover fabric scraps into flowers. The network is licensed under a feminist peer production license, restricting use to non-capitalist purposes.

This might sound purely symbolic, but it reflects a deeper insight. The internet isn't neutral infrastructure. Its architecture shapes who can speak, who gets heard, and who profits. Community networks let people design connectivity that reflects their values rather than accepting whatever corporations offer.

Learning to Build Together

Creating these networks requires both technical and social infrastructure. The Commotion Construction Kit provides open-source guides for planning and configuring community wireless networks. The Community Network Roadmap, developed by engineers and social scientists, helps non-experts navigate the entire process from inception to maintenance.

Detroit's Digital Stewards training program developed project-based learning approaches that have spread to Brooklyn and Dharamshala, India. These programs treat network building as a collective skill, not specialized expertise locked behind certifications.

Workshops often use "barn raising" models where participants contribute different abilities. Some identify suitable rooftops. Others build antenna mounts or crimp cables. Still others configure routers or teach newcomers. Everyone brings something valuable.

When Disasters Strike and Governments Disconnect

Mesh networks shine during crises. After the 2017 Mexican earthquake, volunteers deployed Bridgefly to restore communication. The same tool helped Hong Kong protesters coordinate when they feared government surveillance or shutdowns.

During Sudan's 2021 military coup, people used Fireside messenger for offline communication. The app creates local networks that work without internet access, letting people share information even under complete digital blackout.

This resilience matters beyond emergencies. Authoritarian governments routinely shut down internet access during protests or elections. Even in democracies, commercial ISPs sometimes fail during critical moments. Community-owned infrastructure provides an alternative that's harder to disable or control.

The Limits and Challenges

Community networks aren't perfect solutions. They require dedicated volunteers willing to climb rooftops, troubleshoot technical problems, and handle user support. When key people move away or burn out, networks can struggle.

Connecting to the broader internet still requires backhaul—purchasing bandwidth from commercial providers. Communities own the last-mile infrastructure, but they're not fully independent. Legal and regulatory barriers can make expansion difficult. Some jurisdictions restrict who can provide internet service or require expensive licensing.

Technical limitations matter too. Mesh networks work well for local communication and moderate internet use. They're not ideal for bandwidth-intensive applications or extremely large deployments. Range constraints mean urban networks need many nodes close together, while rural networks face challenges spanning long distances.

What This Movement Means

Community networks represent something larger than technical solutions to connectivity gaps. They're experiments in collective ownership of digital infrastructure. They demonstrate that communities can build and maintain sophisticated technology without corporate intermediaries.

The movement challenges assumptions about how essential services should be provided. If neighborhoods can create their own internet, what else might they build and operate themselves? The skills learned—community organizing, technical training, collective decision-making—transfer to other domains.

These networks also preserve local autonomy. When a corporation controls your internet access, it controls what you can see, who you can talk to, and what information you can share. Community ownership means community control.

The Path Forward

The Pacific Northwest Rural Broadband Alliance now coordinates grassroots organizing and provides technical assistance across multiple community networks. Similar support organizations are emerging globally. The infrastructure for building infrastructure is taking shape.

Government funding could accelerate this movement. Some jurisdictions are beginning to direct broadband funding toward community-owned models rather than subsidizing corporate expansion. This recognizes that ownership structure matters, not just connectivity speed.

The technology keeps improving. Cheaper hardware, better software, and clearer documentation lower barriers to entry. Each successful network provides lessons and templates for the next one.

Most fundamentally, the movement is proving that another internet is possible. Not the internet of surveillance capitalism and corporate control, but networks built by and for the communities they serve. One rooftop, one volunteer, one neighborhood at a time.