What is the Internet Resiliency Club? A project that provides internet access without the internet

At the core of the project is LoRa technology, a type of radio communication that has a much wider range than Bluetooth and WiFi, which typically cover only a few meters. The technology developed by Aurora can reach several kilometers, especially in open spaces, making it perfect for creating distributed networks without the need for large antennas or telecom providers.

Another term in the Internet Resiliency Club vocabulary is mesh network. While in a traditional network everything revolves around a central point (such as a router or antenna), in this type of network every device is a node that communicates with nearby devices. This is what makes LoRa so similar to radio: when a message is sent, before reaching the recipient it passes from one device to another, like a game of telephone.

Among the key terms explaining how LoRa works is also store-and-forward, the system used by the Internet Resiliency Club. In practice, this is what makes the network so resilient and reliable: if the connection is unstable, data is not lost but stored and forwarded as soon as possible. This ensures that transmission is never interrupted, unlike what happens when conventional internet connectivity fails.

To operate LoRa, Meshtastic is required, an open source project that allows users to manage network nodes, send messages and configure devices. It is not simply an app you can download, as it requires small radio devices with displays only a few centimeters wide that are compatible with LoRa, but these are already available online or can be assembled manually.

The precursors Fidonet and Packet Radio

The Internet Resiliency Club is not just a technological experiment, but a social movement that helps rethink contemporary communication. Instead of relying entirely on large companies and centralized infrastructures, it proposes a more distributed model, where each person can contribute to the network. The idea is not entirely new, as it has roots in the 1980s, with systems such as Fidonet and Packet Radio, which allowed messages to be sent between computers using telephone lines and radio signals. These systems were slower than today’s Internet, but more reliable.

When could it be useful?

Although the idea of a world without Internet may seem absurd, there have already been situations where tools like LoRa would have been useful. One example is the blackout that affected Spain and Portugal in spring 2025, along with events such as natural disasters and other emergencies resulting from sociopolitical tensions between states controlling energy resources such as Iran and the United States.

«We depend too much on American companies», said co-founder Sasha Romijn in an interview with Radio France. In the article, author Eitanite Bellaïche even recounts that, during her visit to the Internet Resiliency Club offices, she saw a Dutch government representative enter the room, confirming how seriously political leaders are taking international tensions and how they are preparing for potential digital emergencies.