Operation Connect Carolina

10/09/2024

UPDATE: TL;DR - Our first systems go out on Thursday!! More details below.

We've been quiet on the socials today but ultra-busy in the background! Our engineering team has been hard at work building, testing, troubleshooting, and debugging the systems to get them up and running reliably. This is an incredible team effort, spanning continents (Cumucore, who provided the 5G packet core, is based in Finland) and incorporating many hours of voluntary effort from multiple brilliant engineering minds. As any engineer knows, putting together a production-ready system in four days* is an incredible feat, and we want to thank everyone involved for their tireless, selfless contributions. We will post an update in the future that highlights these individuals working behind the scenes to make the technical portion of this initiative succeed.

Huge thanks to Beverly Tan and Ecovate 3D for STEPing up to help (sorry, couldn't resist!) with 3D printing the Starlink antenna mounts and Information Technology Disaster Resource Center (ITDRC) for their partnership and support.

The photo is one of our volunteers, LoyCurtis Smith 'Tetrising' various components that form our Rapid-Deploy Connectivity Hubs into its enclosure to figure out their ideal locations. Thanks, Curtis!

* We received the base stations on October 4

10/07/2024

The stories behind this picture are incredible. Chris Kaminsky, the guy in the blue shirt on the right, called us and left a voicemail message on Friday, offering to provide Operation Connect Carolina with some of his company, Kymeta Corporation's products for us to use in our efforts to restore connectivity in Western North Carolina. He told us today that he learned about what we’re doing because his wife saw the word “oneweb” on the white board behind Aaron Huslage in the segment that WRAL TV did on our efforts and told him about it. As it turns out, “OneWeb” refers to Eutelsat Group's Oneweb, which Kymeta partners with to deliver their broadband Internet capability.
Chris and his engineer, Mark Garretson (far right in the photo) dropped off a few units today, and we learned that the technology that powers Kymeta’s products’ capabilities was developed right here in Durham, N.C. at Duke University!
We’re knocking on the door of the $14,000 donation mark. Would you consider helping us cross that mark? URL below.

10/06/2024

Video update! Aaron Huslage provides a behind-the-scenes look at how we're building the mobile 5G systems that will be deployed in the field in Western North Carolina. A big thank you to the American Underground in downtown Durham, NC for providing us with the space to build and test these systems!

10/05/2024

Systems are being tested right now!

Our system is being tested in downtown Durham right at this very minute!

10/05/2024

Our system is being tested in downtown Durham right at this very minute!

10/05/2024

Our first video update - funds we've raised, donations we've received, ruggedized/MIL-spec communications gift, and more!

This is "Operation Connect Carolina Video Update 1" by ClearSketch on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

10/04/2024

We’re just shy of hitting the $5,000 mark! Would you consider making a contribution to help us get there? Every $5,000 we raise enables us to fund one communications system! We’ve got some amazing news to share with you soon!

10/04/2024

Our first shipment of MosoLabs base stations arrived and will be headed to soon. These units create cellular networks and will bring communications back to disconnected communities.

Want to help? Learn more and donate: https://www.connectcarolina.org/

10/04/2024

Our first shipment of MosoLabs base stations have arrived!! These units will enable us to create cellular networks that enable people to connect to the Internet.

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10/04/2024

We've raised over $4,500 so far! Thank you for your generous donations. While we're close to the $5k mark that pays for the first unit, *we already have equipment on the way to our office to build the first ten*.

Every $5,000 we raise lets us fund another one. If you're able to, please consider making a contribution. If your company is in a position to donate, please ask them to. Every dollar counts and will help enable more communities and people to get connected.

10/04/2024

Hi everyone! We finally got the FB page up and running. Please like/follow us to receive updates on our progress. We've got some really exciting news to share soon, related to the systems we're building and our fundraising efforts. Stay tuned!