About the network
Saginaw Bend covers about 56 blocks of Flint’s northeast side, mostly two- and three-family frame houses. The network was built by a block club after a subsidized broadband offer expired and prices doubled overnight.
Schematic
Uptime
99.99% uptime over the last 90 days, with no days of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- Saginaw Bend Neighborhood Network
- Legal home
- Nonprofit corporation with a member-elected board
- Members
- 1,735 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Third Tuesday of each month, 7:00 pm, at the masjid’s community room
- Annual assembly
- Every July
- 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.
- Anthony K.Network steward · since 2019
- Monique T.Treasurer · since 2019
- Imani H.Membership steward · since 2021
- Mei H.Training steward · since 2017
- Leon Y.Rooftops steward · since 2016
- Minh Y.Secretary · since 2020
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-21-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Flint internet exchange | 33% |
Maintenance log
Firmware 4.6.2 rollout. Staged firmware rollout to every node, one hub’s area at a time. Each node restarted once.
Annual assembly: 113 members attended and elected two stewards.
Hardware refresh: 4 nodes upgraded to Gantry H5 over the year.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2025, mostly in grids D1, F5 and G4.
Maintenance fund audit presented to members and approved.
Hardware refresh: 39 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
Annual assembly: 166 members attended and elected four stewards.
Radio on N-1643 replaced after water got into the enclosure.
High winds: 4 rooftop mounts checked and re-secured.
Installer workshop: 18 residents trained and climbed their first roof.
Hardware build night: 19 Stoop nodes assembled from parts.
Heavy rain: water ingress found and fixed in 6 enclosures.
Radio on N-0757 replaced after water got into the enclosure.
Hardware refresh: 4 nodes upgraded to Gantry H4 over the year.
Firmware 4.0 rolled out to every node.
Backhaul upgraded from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps fiber.
New hub on the former bank building roof: N-1092.
New hub on the mill building roof: N-0910.
Network switched on: 59 nodes installed by 154 volunteers over a weekend.
Founding assembly: the Saginaw Bend Neighborhood Network adopts its charter and elects five stewards.