About the network
Apollo Square is a neighborhood of brick rowhouses and a few small apartment blocks around a square laid out in the 1920s for workers at the waterfront plants. The plants closed decades ago; the square, and its residents’ association, did not.
The network was built by the residents’ association in 2012 after a survey found that most households were paying for service that dropped every evening. It is one of the most heavily used LoTek networks for its size.
Schematic
Hover over or tap a node for its details, and click or tap again to open it. With a keyboard, move to the schematic and use the arrow keys.
Uptime
99.97% uptime over the last 90 days, with 1 day of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- Apollo Square Neighborhood Network
- Legal home
- Tenants’ association, incorporated as a nonprofit
- Members
- 1,700 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Third Wednesday of each month, 7:30 pm, at the union hall
- Annual assembly
- Every November
- Maintenance fund
- $6 a month per household, suggested. No household is disconnected for not paying.
Stewards
Elected by the members. Listed by first name and initial.
- Sione M.Network steward · since 2022
- Dorothy K.Treasurer · since 2017
- Emeka M.Membership steward · since 2017
- Gabriel S.Training steward · since 2017
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-11-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Baltimore internet exchange | 34% |
| LT-11-BH2 | Licensed microwave, 11 GHz | 2 Gbps | Carrollton Row | 47% |
Maintenance log
Power cut. The rooftop nodes on the affected blocks went down with the grid. Hubs stayed up on battery.
Firmware 4.6.2 rollout. Staged firmware rollout to every node, one hub’s area at a time. Each node restarted once.
Hardware refresh: 3 nodes upgraded to Gantry H5 over the year.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2026, mostly in grids D2, F4 and H2.
High winds: 8 rooftop mounts checked and re-secured.
Hardware refresh: 27 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
Annual assembly: 141 members attended and elected two stewards.
Cable to N-3060 replaced; squirrels again.
Radio on N-3044 replaced after water got into the enclosure.
Tree trimming along two backbone paths, with the city’s parks crew.
Battery modules replaced at 6 hubs ahead of winter.
Hardware build night: 15 Stoop nodes assembled from parts.
Expansion: six new nodes in 2024, mostly in grids A2, B4 and C3.
New hub on the public school roof, under a district agreement: N-3007.
Power injector for N-1279 replaced after a surge.
Expansion: five new nodes in 2023, mostly in grids C2, E4 and F4.
Backhaul upgraded from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps fiber.
Hardware refresh: 4 nodes upgraded to Gantry H4 over the year.
Firmware 4.0 rolled out to every node.
New hub on the apartment tower roof, twelve storeys: N-0970.
Firmware 3.0 rolled out to every node.
New hub on the mill building roof: N-0312.
Expansion: five new nodes in 2012, mostly in grids D4, E1 and E4.
Network switched on: 23 nodes across the first few blocks.
Founding assembly: the Apollo Square Neighborhood Network adopts its charter and elects four stewards.