About the network
Sedgley Hollow covers about 19 blocks of Philadelphia’s south side, mostly brick rowhouses. The network was built by the public library’s branch staff and its regulars after a tenants’ survey found that a third of households had no home connection.
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
99.85% uptime over the last 90 days, with 2 days of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- Sedgley Hollow Neighborhood Network
- Legal home
- Cooperative corporation, owned by member households
- Members
- 973 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Second Wednesday of each month, 7:30 pm, at the union hall
- Annual assembly
- Every July
- 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.
- Irene M.Network steward · since 2025
- Lwazi H.Treasurer · since 2018
- Yusuf O.Membership steward · since 2024
- Ramón K.Training steward · since 2018
- Carmen B.Rooftops steward · since 2020
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-09-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Philadelphia internet exchange | 13% |
| LT-09-BH2 | Licensed microwave, 11 GHz | 2 Gbps | Schuylkill Flats | 19% |
| LT-09-BH3 | Fiber, donated by the library system | 1 Gbps | Public library network | 19% |
Maintenance log
Upstream outage. The network’s transit provider had an outage of its own. The mesh itself stayed up, and local services kept working.
Firmware 4.6.2 rollout. Staged firmware rollout to every node, one hub’s area at a time. Each node restarted once.
Upstream outage. The network’s transit provider had an outage of its own. The mesh itself stayed up, and local services kept working.
Annual assembly: 65 members attended and elected two stewards.
Hardware refresh: 16 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
Annual assembly: 61 members attended and elected two stewards.
Battery modules replaced at 2 hubs ahead of winter.
Climbing safety refresher: 10 installers recertified.
N-2116 moved to the other side of the roof to clear a new air-conditioning unit.
Ice storm: 3 nodes offline until power was restored.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2023, mostly in grids B3, E1 and H4.
New hub on the public school roof, under a district agreement: N-2918.
Radio on N-0189 replaced after water got into the enclosure.
Grounding on N-2634 redone after an inspection found a corroded lug.
Maintenance fund audit presented to members and approved.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2022, mostly in grids C3, D1 and F4.
Hardware refresh: 19 nodes upgraded to Stoop R5 over the year.
Firmware 4.0 rolled out to every node.
Backhaul upgraded from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps fiber.
Hardware refresh: 11 nodes upgraded to Stoop R4 over the year.
New hub on the fire station roof, under a city agreement: N-1135.
Firmware 3.0 rolled out to every node.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2012, mostly in grids A5, E1 and E2.
Network switched on: ten nodes across the first few blocks.
Founding assembly: the Sedgley Hollow Neighborhood Network adopts its charter and elects five stewards.