In a typical week, NYC Mesh –a community-owned internet network in New York City–might get five requests from people who want to join. In the wake of the FCC’s decision to roll back net neutrality rules , it started getting dozens of requests a day.

Without net neutrality protections, big telecom companies can choose to slow down or block certain sites. If you want to watch Netflix, for example, Comcast could decide to charge you more to access it. A community-run “mesh” network, by contrast, takes back control from corporations: Everyone on the network can agree to keep all content open. When a system is fully running, the people who use it can cancel their contract with a traditional internet service provider and stop paying any monthly bills.

In Manhattan, NYC Mesh put a large antenna on top of a building connected directly to the internet through fiber optic cable. This “supernode,” supported by a network of point-to-point routers that volunteers install on rooftops and windows in the area, provides a fast connection for users in most of downtown. A second supernode is in place in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick, and two more are planned.

“I think with around 30 or 40 supernodes we could cover the whole city,” says Brian Hall, a volunteer working on the project. “It’s going to take us a while, but that’s our plan.”

It’s something of a return to how the internet originally worked. “One thing that inspires me is that the original idea of the internet was a network of networks,” Hall says. “Different organizations like universities or the Defense Department would form their own network, and then they would join them together, and that is how the internet formed. We’re just getting back to the idea. We formed a network, and we join our network with other networks, and get rid of the ISP layer that we don’t really need.”

Building this type of network can be challenging, and the existing efforts in the U.S. are small. Some projects, like a network attempted in Hoboken, New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy, never took off. In many cases, it’s difficult to get access to the best locations for supernodes. “The people who own masts up on hills or who own tall buildings have become accustomed to the fact that they can charge large monthly rental costs to big ISPs,” says Marc Juul, one of the co-creators of the People’s Open Network, a Bay Area-based mesh network in the early stages in Oakland.

Unlike big telecom companies, which rely solely on a small number of these expensive relay points, a mesh network can route internet from house to house. Having a dense network of participants can keep the bandwidth high and makes the network resilient. But building a comprehensive network is also difficult. “One of the problems in starting a mesh network is bootstrapping–how you get a mesh network from nothing to actually existing,” says Juul. “Every time someone comes and wants to be on the mesh, in the beginning, they’re very likely going to be very far away from anyone else on the mesh.”