About the network
San Pablo Yards covers about 33 blocks of Oakland’s northeast side, mostly stucco bungalows and courtyard apartments. The network was built by the public library’s branch staff and its regulars after a school district survey found students doing homework in fast-food parking lots for the signal.
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 no days of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- San Pablo Yards Community Net
- Legal home
- Tenants’ association, incorporated as a nonprofit
- Members
- 1,292 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Second Saturday of each month, 10:00 am, at the senior center
- Annual assembly
- Every September
- 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 H.Network steward · since 2022
- Cedric V.Treasurer · since 2019
- Lin E.Membership steward · since 2018
- Ebony S.Training steward · since 2025
- Marisol M.Rooftops steward · since 2022
- Danielle C.Secretary · since 2020
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-35-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Oakland internet exchange | 21% |
| LT-35-BH2 | Fiber, donated by the library system | 1 Gbps | Public library network | 59% |
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: 74 members attended and elected four stewards.
Storm damage: 4 dishes realigned and one mast replaced.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2026, mostly in grids C4, F5 and H2.
Hardware refresh: 32 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
New hub on the public housing tower roof, under a housing authority agreement: N-3382.
Battery modules replaced at 5 hubs ahead of winter.
Annual assembly: 68 members attended and elected four stewards.
Power injector for N-2280 replaced after a surge.
Mount on N-1445 re-secured after the host reported a loose mast.
Annual kipple drive: 61 retired radios, injectors and power supplies collected from members and sent for recycling.
Mount on N-1462 re-secured after the host reported a loose mast.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2024, mostly in grids D4, F4 and G1.
Heat wave: 8 rooftop nodes throttled; all recovered overnight.
Mount on N-1466 re-secured after the host reported a loose mast.
Climbing safety refresher: 9 installers recertified.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2023, mostly in grids B5, C5 and H1.
Hardware refresh: 9 nodes upgraded to Stoop R5 over the year.
Firmware 4.0 rolled out to every node.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2018, mostly in grids A2, E5 and H2.
Network switched on: 29 nodes installed by 151 volunteers over a weekend.
Founding assembly: the San Pablo Yards Community Net adopts its charter and elects five stewards.