For homes in New York City public housing
Is your internet as good as promised?
New York City promises NYCHA residents free, fast and reliable internet. We're building a small box that checks that promise from inside the home, day and night.
Step 1
It starts with a tiny computer.
A Raspberry Pi is a whole computer the size of a credit card. It costs about $35.
Step 2
We give it a simple home.
A plain white case keeps it safe. It's small enough to sit right next to your router.
Step 3
Plug it into your router.
One cable connects the box to your router. Plug the other into the wall for power, like a phone charger.
Step 4
Then it quietly keeps watch.
Every five minutes it checks your connection. Every hour it runs a full speed test. Every result is saved, so you have proof.
Why it matters
Internet providers tell you how fast your connection should be. The box shows how fast it really is.
It keeps a record
A speed test on your phone shows one moment. The box checks all day and all night, so slow evenings and outages get written down too.
Results you can compare
It measures the same way as a University of Chicago study of home internet, so results from different homes and cities line up.
Advice for your homeComing later
Later, we want to turn the results into personalized recommendations to improve your home's internet.
Where things stand
The measuring software already runs on Mac and Linux, and we're still improving it. The box is next. Everything is free and open source, so anyone can see exactly how it works.
Follow along on GitHub