About the network
Ironside went from first meeting to switch-on in eleven days in April 2020, when schools closed and a third of the neighborhood’s children had no way to attend class from home. LoTek staff, stewards from four Newark networks and a great many neighbors installed it in masks, one roof at a time.
Schematic
Uptime
99.98% uptime over the last 90 days, with no days of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- Ironside Community Net
- Legal home
- Nonprofit corporation with a member-elected board
- Members
- 1,558 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Second Monday of each month, 7:30 pm, at the housing cooperative’s lobby
- Annual assembly
- Every August
- Maintenance fund
- $4 a month per household, suggested. No household is disconnected for not paying.
Stewards
Elected by the members. Listed by first name and initial.
- Terrence B.Network steward · since 2025
- Benjamin B.Treasurer · since 2021
- Nadia Y.Membership steward · since 2021
- Quentin P.Training steward · since 2023
- Juana M.Rooftops steward · since 2023
- Alicia B.Secretary · since 2020
- Janelle M.Network steward · since 2023
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-42-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Newark internet exchange | 22% |
| LT-42-BH2 | Licensed microwave, 11 GHz | 2 Gbps | Bridgeside | 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.
Climbing safety refresher: 20 installers recertified.
Annual assembly: 71 members attended and elected two stewards.
Ice storm: 7 nodes offline until power was restored.
Hardware refresh: 39 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
Annual assembly: 96 members attended and elected two stewards.
Tree trimming along two backbone paths, with the city’s parks crew.
New hub on the branch library roof: N-3103.
Installer workshop: 12 residents trained and climbed their first roof.
Mount on N-1865 re-secured after the host reported a loose mast.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2023, mostly in grids A2, B5 and C3.
N-1866 replaced under warranty after its radio stopped associating.
Hardware refresh: 26 nodes upgraded to Stoop R5 over the year.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2020, mostly in grids B1, B2 and E4.
Network switched on: 62 nodes installed by 123 volunteers over a weekend.
Founding assembly: the Ironside Community Net adopts its charter and elects five stewards.