October 29, 2018
Network Update
Over the last several weeks Love City Community Network has made enormous strides to improve the network. Our network currently has the widest reach of any ISP on island serving 500+ active private connections. Of those 500+ connections, 80+ businesses and 100+ vacation rentals rely on LCCN as their primary or back-up internet service provider.
In the past month we have accomplished the following:
Transitioned our Network Operations Center (NOC) from grid power (WAPA) to solar power with battery back-up. Today, 4 of our 17 sites are running completely off the grid. These sites utilize solar panels, power inverters, and batteries to store enough solar energy to run the signal distribution equipment as well as an emergency-ready public WiFi hotspot.
Flawlessly operated the network through several WAPA outages by relying on battery backup systems at each of our 17 sites. If your home has backup power generation, make sure your nanobeam is plugged into an outlet serviced by your generator/battery backup so your home remains connected during WAPA outages.
Implemented and tested our first network redundancy link. This new implementation allows the traffic passing on the network to be instantly re-routed in another direction if there is a failure at any of our sites, ultimately eliminating brief, sporadic service interruptions for our clients.
Installed a new, permanent replacement for the original Coral Bay wireless distribution site. The location is further up the hill from the original and will allow for service distribution to Eden and Palestina Valley another area that has been without connectivity for over a year.
Along with these major accomplishments, we are happy to announce that our network is performing better than ever before! With commercial connectivity still unavailable and sometimes unreliable on much of the island we’re delivering on our promise to take LCCN service quality and availability to the next level. According to user testimonials in Coral Bay, Calabash and Fish Bay, we’re now delivering the fastest and most reliable connection ever experienced.
We’d like to extend our deepest thanks to our supporters, volunteers, staff, donors, backbone providers and other non-profit partners who have made these accomplishments possible. It’s because of the support we have received from the community that we have been able to come as far as we have.
80% of our donations have come from individual community members making contributions of less than $100. We’re working hard to secure future funding and potential partnerships but today we remain a truly community supported endeavor. We continue to await government approval on our fee for service model so our 150 core supporters who are making a monthly tax deductible contribution truly keep the network functioning. This allows St. John residents to do business, connect with family and friends, and enjoy entertainment options that were, in many places, previously unavailable. So far this month we have received 193 donations.
We have until October 31st to meet our goal of 250 donations (one contribution for every other client on our network) as we move toward securing major donor and additional philanthropic support.
Ongoing support is necessary to continue this important work. If you are already giving an automatic monthly contribution, thank you! If you’ve made a contribution this month, please consider signing up for an automatic gift or making a special contribution today toward our goal. If you haven’t already please make a donation to ensure our disaster-ready network remains strong, fast and accessible to underserved portions of the St. John community.
Remember to tell your neighbors and friends about LCCN and encourage them to sign up for primary or backup service by visiting our website or stopping by our office above Connections.
Thank you for your continued support!
