About the network
Grainline covers about 46 blocks of Buffalo’s north side, mostly public housing towers and the walk-ups around them. The network was built by the tenants’ association 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
99.98% uptime over the last 90 days, with 1 day of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- Grainline Community Net
- Legal home
- Community land trust program
- Members
- 1,880 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Second Wednesday of each month, 7:30 pm, at the masjid’s community room
- Annual assembly
- Every December
- 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.
- Zainab I.Network steward · since 2022
- Valentina S.Treasurer · since 2026
- Angela A.Membership steward · since 2026
- Earl B.Training steward · since 2019
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-18-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Buffalo internet exchange | 30% |
| LT-18-BH2 | Licensed microwave, 11 GHz | 2 Gbps | Tower site, Buffalo | 42% |
Maintenance log
Lake-effect snow. Heavy lake-effect snow overnight. Four rooftop nodes are offline and two links are degraded while dishes are iced over. Stewards will clear them after sunrise.
Mount on N-0581 re-secured after the host reported a loose mast.
Firmware 4.6.2 rollout. Staged firmware rollout to every node, one hub’s area at a time. Each node restarted once.
Cable to N-0596 replaced; squirrels again.
Hardware refresh: 40 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
Annual assembly: 134 members attended and elected two stewards.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2025, mostly in grids B1, B5 and E4.
High winds: 3 rooftop mounts checked and re-secured.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2024, mostly in grids A2, C5 and D1.
Rooftop agreements reviewed; 6 renewed with new building owners.
Climbing safety refresher: 7 installers recertified.
New hub on the housing cooperative roof, nine storeys: N-3010.
N-0864 moved to the other side of the roof to clear a new air-conditioning unit.
Battery modules replaced at 2 hubs ahead of winter.
Dish on N-2262 re-aimed after a neighbor’s new extension blocked the path.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2023, mostly in grids B3, D1 and E4.
Hardware refresh: 48 nodes upgraded to Stoop R5 over the year.
Hardware refresh: 3 nodes upgraded to Gantry H4 over the year.
Backhaul upgraded from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps fiber.
Firmware 4.0 rolled out to every node.
New hub on the church steeple: N-1142.
New hub on the union hall roof: N-1061.
Firmware 3.0 rolled out to every node.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2014, mostly in grids B1, G2 and G5.
Network switched on: 47 nodes installed by 73 volunteers over a weekend.
Founding assembly: the Grainline Community Net adopts its charter and elects four stewards.