According to New Scientist, there appears to be no official government plan for catastrophic internet failure, which has prompted about 150 volunteers including Linux legend Valerie Aurora and hacker Trammell Hudson to form the world’s only Internet Resiliency Club. The group recently gathered at a 15th-century café in Amsterdam to test Meshtastic devices that use unlicensed radio spectrum to send text messages across cities when traditional networks fail. These low-power devices can be solar-powered indefinitely and form mesh networks, but testing reveals they only work over hundreds of meters in cities rather than the claimed 10 kilometers. The volunteers are stress-testing whether these radios could help coordinate restoring basic services after an internet collapse, inspired by colleagues in Ukraine who’ve kept networks running during war.
The bootstrap problem
Here’s the thing that keeps these experts up at night: how do you coordinate fixing the internet when the very tools you’d use to coordinate are broken? It’s what Aurora calls “the bootstrap problem.” Think about it – when everything goes down, you can’t email colleagues, can’t check Slack, can’t even look up phone numbers because they’re all stored in the cloud. We saw this exact scenario play out during power cuts in Spain and Portugal, where experts had satellite phones but couldn’t contact the right people because they had no hard copies of contact information.
And honestly, that’s the most terrifying part of all this. We’ve become so dependent on digital systems that we’ve lost the analog backups. I mean, when was the last time you actually memorized a phone number? The IRC volunteers are basically trying to rebuild those analog coordination systems using digital tools that don’t depend on the existing internet infrastructure.
Why low-tech might be our only hope
The Meshtastic devices they’re testing represent a fascinating approach – sacrificing capability for reliability. These aren’t fancy smartphones. They can’t handle video calls or even voice. We’re talking about basic text messaging that hops from device to device across a city. But in an emergency, that might be enough to say “meet at location X” or “power plant Y needs component Z.”
What’s clever about the Meshtastic approach is the solar power aspect. If the grid goes down along with the internet, these things could theoretically keep working indefinitely. But there are serious practical limitations. The volunteers found the range is dramatically less than advertised in urban environments – just hundreds of meters instead of kilometers. To cover Amsterdam, you’d need hundreds of these devices mounted on buildings, which presents its own nightmare of permissions and logistics.
The government planning vacuum
What strikes me as both concerning and completely unsurprising is that according to Valerie Aurora, there’s no evidence of any official plan for internet restoration. “If there is one, it’s successfully being kept secret from everybody who should know and who would implement it,” she told New Scientist. Given how critical the internet is to everything from banking to utilities to emergency services, this seems like a massive oversight.
We’ve seen similar planning gaps before. Remember when government cybersecurity agencies get hobbled during shutdowns? Or how unprepared many cities were for the shift to remote work during the pandemic? The pattern is clear – we tend to assume critical infrastructure will just keep working until it doesn’t.
The reality check
Let’s be honest though – could a volunteer group with hobbyist gear really restore the global internet? Probably not. But that’s not really their goal. As Trammell Hudson and the team recognize, the immediate focus is getting local critical services back online in a city like Amsterdam. Utilities, emergency coordination, basic communication between key technical people.
The real value here might be in proving the concept and creating playbooks that others can follow. Joe Abley makes the crucial point: “No backup is any good unless you test it.” The IRC’s experiments with impromptu picnics coordinated only through Meshtastic devices might sound silly, but they’re exactly the kind of realistic testing that’s missing from most disaster planning.
So while I’m skeptical that mesh networks will save civilization after a Carrington-level solar event, I’m genuinely impressed that someone is at least trying to figure this out. Because right now, the alternative appears to be crossing our fingers and hoping the internet never completely fails. And given how many threats are out there – from cyberattacks to climate disasters to solar storms – that seems like a pretty risky strategy.
Hey very nice blog!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Superb .. I will bookmark your site and take the feeds additionally?
I am happy to find a lot of helpful info here within the publish, we’d like
work out extra strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing.
. . . . .
Wonderful beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your website,
how could i subscribe for a blog site? The account aided me a acceptable deal.
I had been a little bit familiar of this your broadcast provided shiny transparent idea
whoah this weblog is magnificent i really like reading your articles.
Stay up the great work! You understand, a lot of people are searching around for
this info, you can aid them greatly.
Great post. I will be experiencing many of these issues as well..
Howdy! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d
figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading
links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa? My
blog goes over a lot of the same topics as yours and I
feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you’re interested feel free to
send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Superb blog by the way!
From my observation, shopping for consumer electronics online may be easily expensive, yet there are some tips and tricks that you can use to obtain the best deals. There are generally ways to come across discount offers that could make one to possess the best technology products at the lowest prices. Thanks for your blog post.
Thanks for discussing your ideas on this blog. As well, a fairy tale regarding the finance institutions intentions any time talking about property foreclosures is that the standard bank will not getreceive my payments. There is a degree of time in which the bank will need payments occasionally. If you are far too deep inside the hole, they should commonly call that you pay the payment entirely. However, i am not saying that they will have any sort of installments at all. If you and the bank can find a way to work anything out, this foreclosure process may cease. However, in the event you continue to miss out on payments in the new plan, the home foreclosure process can pick up exactly where it left off.
If you would like to improve your experience simply keep visiting this site and be updated with the latest gossip posted here.
I’m gone to convey my little brother, that he should also go to
see this blog on regular basis to get updated from most recent news.
This article provides clear idea in favor of the
new visitors of blogging, that genuinely how to do running a
blog.
I got this web page from my buddy who informed me concerning this web site and at the moment this time I am browsing this web site and reading very informative posts at this time.
That is really fascinating, You are an overly skilled blogger.
I have joined your feed and look forward to searching for extra of your fantastic post.
Also, I’ve shared your website in my social networks
Greetings I am so excited I found your site, I really found you by
error, while I was browsing on Google for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a fantastic post
and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the minute
but I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I
have time I will be back to read a great deal
more, Please do keep up the excellent work.
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox
and now each time a comment is added I get several emails with the same comment.
Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Bless you!
Appreciate this post. Let me try it out.
I do not know if it’s just me or if perhaps everyone else encountering issues with your website.
It looks like some of the written text within your
content are running off the screen. Can somebody else please comment
and let me know if this is happening to them too? This might be a
problem with my web browser because I’ve had this happen before.
Appreciate it
This piece of writing is genuinely a good one it assists new
net people, who are wishing in favor of blogging.
Hi i am kavin, its my first occasion to commenting anyplace, when i read this paragraph i thought i could also create comment due
to this sensible paragraph.
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several emails with
the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Thanks!
Awesome site you have here but I was wanting to know
if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics discussed in this article?
I’d really like to be a part of online community where I
can get feed-back from other experienced individuals that share
the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let
me know. Thanks a lot!
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets
I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.
I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite
some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something
like this. Please let me know if you run into anything.
I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to
your new updates.
I have read so many articles about the blogger lovers except this piece of writing is genuinely a nice article, keep it up.
Hurrah! Finally I got a weblog from where I can genuinely obtain useful information concerning my study and knowledge.
Good day! I could have sworn I’ve visited this
web site before but after browsing through some
of the articles I realized it’s new to me.
Anyhow, I’m definitely happy I discovered it
and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back often!
Hi! I just want to give you a big thumbs up for the great info you have got right here on this post.
I will be coming back to your website for more soon.
UpvoteRocket is the #1 automated voting service for private MMORPG servers. Climb toplist rankings on XtremeTop100, TopG, GTop100 with smart undetectable automation. Ragnarok, WoW, Mu Online & 20+ platforms supported. Pay only for delivered votes.
I don’t think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article.
Hey I am so delighted I found your website,
I really found you by error, while I was looking on Aol for something else, Nonetheless I am here now
and would just like to say thank you for a incredible post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the moment but I have book-marked it and
also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal
more, Please do keep up the great b.
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!