Observed arrival · 2026-10-07
TownNet: a neighborhood network for internet outages
A proposed offline neighborhood network for check-ins, help requests, and local notices when internet service is down but power remains.
- For
- Neighborhood volunteers planning for internet outages
- Worth noticing
- The network is a chain, not a mesh; one failed relay disconnects homes beyond it until restored.
Field notes
Each hub is described as a laptop connected to an ordinary Wi-Fi router, with nearby homes joining on phones and edge homes extending the chain. Separate network islands can exchange check-ins, operator notices, and needs or offers when a phone carries updates between them; chat, the board, and shared files stay local. The page says hubs sign their own posts and operators must approve another hub with a shared short code. Phone-based transfer has been tested between two hubs, but not on real phones.
Observed signals
Read the marks
Editorial observations of this landing page, not a rating.
One card from the complete issue