Four things that keep a network alive
Seventeen years of LoTek networks come down to four habits. Networks that keep all four last. Networks that drop one usually struggle within a few years.
- Elected stewards, with new ones every year.
- A maintenance fund that can pay for one big repair at any time.
- Training every month, so there are always more people who can climb a roof and read this site.
- A legal home that outlives any one of the people who started it.
Fault reports
Every network keeps a single place where residents report problems: a phone number, a box at the library, a channel on the network’s own message board. In Newark the fault queue has been called room service for as long as anyone can remember. Whatever you call it, a steward should acknowledge every report within a day and close it with a note to the resident.
Most faults are not radios. Check power first, then the cable and injector, then the node’s page on this site, and only then go up.
Spares
Keep at least two complete Stoops, one hub radio, a spare Cellar battery, injectors, cable, connectors, sealant and tape. Build nights replenish the Stoops. Hubs fail rarely, but when one does, a spare on the shelf is the difference between an hour and a fortnight.
Seasonal checks
- Spring: check every relay path for new leaves; re-aim any link that has dropped more than 3 dB.
- Summer: watch for heat throttling on dark roofs; check sun shields on 60 GHz radios.
- Autumn: test every hub’s Cellar battery under load before winter, and replace any that falls short of its rated runtime.
- Winter: clear snow from dishes only when it is safe to go up. A node that is iced over will usually recover by itself.
Budgeting
A typical network of 1,500 households spends most of its fund on backhaul, insurance and replacement hardware, in roughly that order. Publish the books to members every quarter. When a big expense is coming, such as a hardware refresh, say so a year ahead at the annual assembly.
Succession
Write things down: where the spares are, who holds which keys, the passwords for the network’s accounts in a sealed envelope with the treasurer. Every steward trains a successor before their term ends. The best sign of a healthy network is a steward who has never had to climb a roof because someone younger got there first.