About the network
Blue Bend covers about 20 blocks of Kansas City’s east side, mostly brick rowhouses. The network was built by the public library’s branch staff and its regulars after a provider’s fiber build stopped six blocks short of the neighborhood.
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
99.95% uptime over the last 90 days, with 1 day of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- Blue Bend Mesh Cooperative
- Legal home
- Tenants’ association, incorporated as a nonprofit
- Members
- 636 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Third Saturday of each month, 11:00 am, at the branch library’s community room
- Annual assembly
- Every May
- Maintenance fund
- $7 a month per household, suggested. No household is disconnected for not paying.
Stewards
Elected by the members. Listed by first name and initial.
- Marlon C.Network steward · since 2025
- Beatriz K.Treasurer · since 2024
- Monique G.Membership steward · since 2022
- Kateryna W.Training steward · since 2023
- Leticia R.Rooftops steward · since 2021
- Eduardo S.Secretary · since 2024
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-49-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Kansas City internet exchange | 8% |
| LT-49-BH2 | Licensed microwave, 11 GHz | 2 Gbps | Tower site, Kansas City | 11% |
| LT-49-BH3 | Fiber, donated by the library system | 1 Gbps | Public library network | 11% |
Maintenance log
Firmware 4.6.2 rollout. Staged firmware rollout to every node, one hub’s area at a time. Each node restarted once.
Upstream outage. The network’s transit provider had an outage of its own. The mesh itself stayed up, and local services kept working.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2026, mostly in grids F1 and F3.
Annual assembly: 61 members attended and elected two stewards.
Steward training on monitoring and fault-finding: 9 attended.
High winds: 3 rooftop mounts checked and re-secured.
Hardware refresh: 10 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
Annual assembly: 40 members attended and elected two stewards.
Power injector for N-2405 replaced after a surge.
N-2245 replaced under warranty after its radio stopped associating.
Installer workshop: 20 residents trained and climbed their first roof.
Grounding on N-2258 redone after an inspection found a corroded lug.
N-2393 moved to the other side of the roof to clear a new air-conditioning unit.
Tree trimming along two backbone paths, with the city’s parks crew.
Radio on N-2764 replaced after water got into the enclosure.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2023, mostly in grids D3, D4 and E3.
Ice storm: 5 nodes offline until power was restored.
New hub on the union hall roof: N-2407.
Network switched on: 16 nodes installed by 63 volunteers over a weekend.
Founding assembly: the Blue Bend Mesh Cooperative adopts its charter and elects five stewards.