About the network
Steelmark covers about 31 blocks of Gary’s west side, mostly two- and three-family frame houses. The network was built by a parish youth group after a subsidized broadband offer expired and prices doubled overnight.
Schematic
Uptime
99.95% uptime over the last 90 days, with 1 day of degraded service or maintenance.
Governance
- Owned by
- Steelmark Neighborhood Network
- Legal home
- Cooperative corporation, owned by member households
- Members
- 1,476 households, one vote each
- Monthly assembly
- Second Thursday of each month, 7:30 pm, at the branch library’s community room
- Annual assembly
- Every November
- Maintenance fund
- $5 a month per household, suggested. No household is disconnected for not paying.
Stewards
Elected by the members. Listed by first name and initial.
- Nikolai L.Network steward · since 2025
- Zainab G.Treasurer · since 2019
- Miguel R.Membership steward · since 2021
- Imani K.Training steward · since 2016
- Ashley M.Rooftops steward · since 2018
- Ashley S.Secretary · since 2016
- Bernice L.Network steward · since 2026
Backhaul
Links that carry the network’s traffic to the wider internet.
| Link | Medium | Capacity | Far end | Peak use yesterday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LT-22-BH1 | Fiber | 10 Gbps | Gary internet exchange | 27% |
| LT-22-BH2 | Licensed microwave, 11 GHz | 2 Gbps | Tower site, Gary | 39% |
Maintenance log
Firmware 4.6.2 rollout. Staged firmware rollout to every node, one hub’s area at a time. Each node restarted once.
Backhaul fiber cut. A construction crew dug through the fiber. Traffic moved to the backup link at reduced speed until the provider spliced the cable.
Hardware refresh: 22 nodes upgraded to Stoop R6 over the year.
Annual assembly: 71 members attended and elected four stewards.
Power injector for N-0838 replaced after a surge.
Expansion: three new nodes in 2025, mostly in grids A3, A4 and B4.
Cable to N-0844 replaced; squirrels again.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2024, mostly in grids D1, D3 and F4.
Heat wave: 4 rooftop nodes throttled; all recovered overnight.
High winds: 8 rooftop mounts checked and re-secured.
Installer workshop: 8 residents trained and climbed their first roof.
N-1018 replaced under warranty after its radio stopped associating.
Expansion: four new nodes in 2023, mostly in grids B2, C2 and D2.
New hub on the mill building roof: N-2767.
Spare parts inventory counted and restocked.
Hardware refresh: 24 nodes upgraded to Stoop R5 over the year.
Backhaul upgraded from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps fiber.
New hub on the parish bell tower: N-2311.
Firmware 4.0 rolled out to every node.
Hardware refresh: 14 nodes upgraded to Stoop R4 over the year.
Network switched on: 31 nodes installed by 65 volunteers over a weekend.
Founding assembly: the Steelmark Neighborhood Network adopts its charter and elects five stewards.