About the network
Carrollton Row covers about 38 blocks of Baltimore’s south side, mostly public housing towers and the walk-ups around them. The network was built by the neighborhood development corporation after the only provider in the area was fined for advertising speeds it never delivered.
Schematic
Uptime
99.98% uptime over the last 90 days, with no days of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- Carrollton Row Community Net
- Legal home
- Cooperative corporation, owned by member households
- Members
- 1,285 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Second Thursday of each month, 7:30 pm, at the branch library’s community room
- Annual assembly
- Every August
- Maintenance fund
- $9 a month per household, suggested. No household is disconnected for not paying.
Stewards
Elected by the members. Listed by first name and initial.
- Valentina M.Network steward · since 2021
- Gloria D.Treasurer · since 2025
- Héctor H.Membership steward · since 2025
- Bilal F.Training steward · since 2022
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-46-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Baltimore internet exchange | 22% |
| LT-46-BH2 | Licensed microwave, 11 GHz | 2 Gbps | Apollo Square | 31% |
| LT-46-BH3 | Fiber, donated by the library system | 1 Gbps | Public library network | 31% |
Maintenance log
Firmware 4.6.2 rollout. Staged firmware rollout to every node, one hub’s area at a time. Each node restarted once.
Mount on N-2085 re-secured after the host reported a loose mast.
Annual assembly: 83 members attended and elected two stewards.
Tree trimming along two backbone paths, with the city’s parks crew.
Hardware refresh: 4 nodes upgraded to Gantry H5 over the year.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2025, mostly in grids B5, E5 and F1.
Annual assembly: 53 members attended and elected three stewards.
Hardware refresh: 26 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
Installer workshop: 17 residents trained and climbed their first roof.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2024, mostly in grids A2, A4 and F4.
Heat wave: 9 rooftop nodes throttled; all recovered overnight.
New hub on the senior center roof: N-2964.
N-2056 replaced under warranty after its radio stopped associating.
Expansion: seven new nodes in 2023, mostly in grids A3, B3 and B4.
Radio on N-2542 replaced after water got into the enclosure.
Hardware refresh: 17 nodes upgraded to Stoop R5 over the year.
Network switched on: 42 nodes installed by 121 volunteers over a weekend.
Founding assembly: the Carrollton Row Community Net adopts its charter and elects four stewards.