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Comment by rohansingh | Hacker News Reader

If you are a software engineer, working on municipal broadband or starting a local ISP is a really intense way to expand your skills.

For the past year, I've been volunteering at NYC Mesh (nycmesh.net), which is a non-profit that provides fixed wireless broadband in New York. I thought I knew a thing or two about networking — hell, I've even given a talk in the network track at LinuxCon in the past — but working on NYC Mesh really showed me the limits of that knowledge and has helped me learn a ton more.

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For those interested, there are other volunteer-run mesh ISPs in other cities in the US and in the world: https://jointhemesh.net/#!/list

(There might be a better list somewhere else as well)

We're trying to do this in Milwaukee right now and talked to Brian from nycmesh who got us in the right direction. It's going to be difficult to get things started but there's so many great resources. Thanks for adding so much documentation! It really helps a lot.

If anyone's interested in helping in Milwaukee please reach out! We're looking for any technical talent we can get, especially in the networking space.

I've always wanted to expand my networking skills and understanding. Any suggestions on how to get involved in something like this?

https://startyourownisp.com/

Wow, that was straight and to the point breakdown of costs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jjUYOQMuZ4cRyTv1M5X8...

Honestly, this doesn't sound like a bad idea in my area. I can likely put the tower right on my own land and immediately cover a decently sized neighborhood.

It even has things like zip-ties and other miscellaneous items priced out. It's still a rough estimate for a minimal install, but I've undertaken DIY home improvement projects that were in this price range and my estimates weren't quite this detailed.

Sure, here's some ideas:

1. Join the NYC Mesh Slack (slack.nycmesh.net) even if you're not in NYC, just to see how it's run.

2. Read Brian Hall's post, "How to start a community network": https://www.nycmesh.net/blog/how/

3. Read Graham Castleton's "Start Your Own WISP" guide: https://startyourownisp.com/

4. Look around and find folks in your area with a similar interest. If you're in or near a city of any size, I bet there's somebody who's already started or is trying to start something.

how do you volunteer specifically at nycmesh?

I help out with planning and designing hubs, upgrading & installing equipment, troubleshooting network issues, and with anything else I can related to network architecture.

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