Build Your Own Off-Grid Internet

Three billion people have no or little access to internet. This can be because of costs, lack of infrastructure, or outright censorship. Major disasters, extended power outages, and failure of the grid can deny whole communities access to the Internet.

Kiwix (https://kiwix.org/en/) allows you to download key websites (such as Wikipedia, MedlinePlus, Project Gutenberg, and TED Talks) and access them even when the Internet is down.

Download Kiwix, and if you currently have a fast Internet connection you can download as many files from the Kiwix library as you want. Or, you can purchase various Kiwix packages and receive them on a SD Card thtough the mail. For example, the Kiwix "Preppers Package" (https://kiwix.org/en/wifi-hotspot/), available for $25, contains: dozens of resources on homesteading, water treatment, military and emergency medicine, etc. WikiHow, iFixit, and other repair resources, and the entire Wikipedia, along with "TrailSense" and other survival apps for Android. This all fits on a 256 GB microSD card.

LibriVox (https://librivox.org/) provides free public domain audio books. Use Zim (https://zim-wiki.org/) to build your own desktop WiKi. Download clean PDF copies publications from sites like The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/) and Anna's Archive (https://annas-archive.org/). You can also download YouTube videos (https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-download-youtube-videos) for off-line (and Ad Free) use. (Please be aware of copyright issues and collect only public domain / 'Fair Use' content.)  

The GridBase company (https://www.gridbase.net/) will assemble an package for you, or sell you DIY components to help you build your project. The off-grid CyberDeck is shown in this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYNI-ibq7aM), with a CyberDeck Update video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=VgqxieHGNsU). The GridBase projects are excellent, but have one major drawback - once the image is built you can't add any further data to it. This is due to the way the compression algorithms work to store large amounts of data while still making it accessible on small devices.

If you build your own 'Off-Grid Internet' and store the data on WiFi accessible drive, anyone that you grant access to your WiFi network (such as your home network) can have access to this data without needing to connect via the Internet or through the cellular networks.

If you are an amateur (ham) radio operator, you can expand your network using modes like NPR-70 (The New Packet Radio) (https://hackaday.io/project/164092-npr-new-packet-radio). NPR (New Packet Radio) is a custom radio protocol, designed to transport bidirectional IP trafic over 430MHz radio links (ham radio frequencies 420-450MHz). This protocol is optimized for "point to multipoint" topology, with the help of managed-TDMA. Bitrate is 50 to 500kbps (net, effective bitrate), depending on the RF bandwidth chosen. Projects like AREDN (https://www.arednmesh.org/) and here in the Pacific Northwest, HamWAN (https://www.hamwan.org/) allow wide-area exchange of data over radio.  

Julian / OH8STN suggested a project for "Decentralized OTA Micro Blogging" (https://oh8stn.org/blog/2023/01/13/decentralized-ota-micro-blogging/). And projects like GhostNet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk7Jlln16EU) allow for the exchange of news and information over radio networks using JS8Call (http://js8call.com/).

The Internet Society (https://www.internetsociety.org/) provides additional guidance on "How to Build Your Own Internet" (https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Manual_Africa_ISA_How-to-build-your-own-internet-Part-1-draft-8-min.pdf). File Sharing and Communication During an Internet Shutdown (https://blog.witness.org/2020/02/file-sharing-communication-internet-shutdown/) may also be a concern in some countries. You will certainly want to "Get Internet Access When Your Government Shuts It Down" (https://www.pcworld.com/article/494423/get_internet_access_when_your_government_shuts_it_down.html). And have a plan for staying online if the internet or social media gets blocked in your country (https://qz.com/africa/878823/a-guide-to-staying-online-if-the-internet-or-social-media-has-been-blocked-in-your-country).

The bottom line is that we can (and perhaps should) build our own off-grid, decentralized communications and information networks. This builds resiliency into local communities, provides resources to remote villages, and supports groups of like-minded people in sharing information of interest to the group.

 

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