Trellis for Cuba
When They Cut the Connection, We Keep You Linked
Cuando cortan la conexión, nosotros te mantenemos enlazado
On July 11, 2021, Cuba cut the internet for an entire nation of 11 million people. The largest protests in 60 years silenced in hours. ETECSA, the state monopoly, controls every byte of data on the island. Internet costs more per hour than the average daily wage. Trellis is built for exactly this — and Cuba already proved that mesh networking works.
Cuba's Internet Cage
Cuba operates one of the most controlled internet environments in the Western Hemisphere. A state monopoly, astronomical prices, and a government willing to pull the plug the moment dissent appears.
The WiFi Desert
For most Cubans, internet access simply does not exist. Home internet is illegal for private citizens until 2013, and even then restricted. The few who get online do so through state-controlled facilities or foreign hotels. Cuba has the lowest internet penetration in the Western Hemisphere. The government controls every connection point.
WiFi Parks Open
ETECSA opens public WiFi hotspots in parks and plazas. Cubans can finally get online — at $1-2 per hour, in a country where the average monthly salary is $20-30. Lines form around the block. People huddle around WiFi parks at all hours, holding phones in the air searching for signal. Internet access exists, but only for those who can afford it.
SNet: Cuba's Homegrown Mesh
Cubans build SNet (Street Network) — a massive unauthorized mesh network connecting over 70,000 users in Havana using rooftop WiFi antennas, Ethernet cables, and improvised networking equipment. Gaming, messaging, file sharing — all without ETECSA. SNet proves that Cubans will build their own internet when the state won't provide one. The government eventually shuts it down in 2021.
Protests & Total Internet Shutdown
The largest protests in Cuba since 1959 erupt across the island. Thousands take to the streets in Havana, Santiago, Camagüey, and dozens of cities. ETECSA cuts mobile data across the entire country. Social media goes dark. The world sees fragments — and then nothing. Over 1,300 people are detained. Hundreds sentenced to decades in prison. The shutdown lasts days.
Permanent Surveillance State
After July 11, Cuba implements systematic social media monitoring. VPNs targeted. Activists' phones confiscated during arrests. ETECSA throttles access during sensitive political periods. Content filtering expands. The regime learned from July 11: the internet is a threat, and ETECSA is the tool to control it.
Economic Crisis Deepens Control
Cuba's economic collapse makes internet access even more unattainable. Mobile data prices remain prohibitive for most Cubans. Power blackouts (apagones) knock out connectivity even when not deliberately shut down. The combination of monopoly pricing, censorship, and infrastructure collapse creates a triple barrier to communication.
“On July 11, Cuba proved that even a country with limited internet can use it to organize the largest protests in six decades. That's exactly why the government will never let it happen again.”— Freedom House, Freedom on the Net: Cuba 2022
SNet Proved Mesh Works in Cuba
Cuba is the one country on earth that has already demonstrated mass adoption of mesh networking. SNet connected 70,000 people. The technology works. The demand exists. The government's response was to destroy it.
ETECSA Controls Everything
ETECSA (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba) is the sole telecom provider for 11 million people. State-owned, state-controlled. One directive shuts down the entire island. No alternative providers. No competing networks. Mobile data remains expensive relative to wages. The monopoly is absolute.
SNet Proved the Concept
For a decade, Cubans ran SNet — a 70,000+ user mesh network built from improvised equipment, rooftop antennas, and community effort. It proved that Cubans embrace mesh technology. It proved that community-built networks can scale. The government shut SNet down, but the knowledge and demand remain. Trellis picks up where SNet left off.
July 11 Changed Everything
The 2021 protests showed the regime what the internet enables. Mobile data allowed Cubans to livestream protests, coordinate marches, and reach the diaspora. The shutdown proved the regime's willingness to pull the plug on 11 million people rather than face accountability. The next protest will need tools that work offline.
“SNet was the largest community-built mesh network in the Americas. The government destroyed it because a network the state doesn't control is a network the state fears.”— Wired Magazine, reporting on Cuba's grassroots internet
SNet's Successor, Built to Last
Cuba already proved that mesh networking works at scale. Trellis builds on that foundation with military-grade encryption, satellite fallback, and stealth technology that makes the network invisible to the state.
Mesh Networking: Cuba's DNA
SNet proved Cubans build mesh networks. Trellis puts it in every phone. BLE and WiFi Aware create device-to-device connections. No rooftop antennas needed — just phones. Messages hop across Havana's dense neighborhoods, through Camagüey's streets, across Santiago's hills. No ETECSA. No WiFi parks. Just phones talking to phones.
Satellite Fallback
When ETECSA kills mobile data, the mesh still connects locally. But to reach the outside world, Trellis routes through satellite. Android SatelliteManager, Garmin inReach, ZOLEO. One satellite connection serves an entire mesh cluster. Messages from deep inside Cuba reach Miami, Madrid, and the world.
Traffic Obfuscation
When ETECSA throttles but doesn't block, Trellis disguises traffic as normal HTTPS. Shadowsocks, V2Ray, domain fronting — your VPN connection looks like regular web browsing. Cuba's DPI capabilities are less sophisticated than China's or Iran's, but Trellis doesn't take chances. Full stealth regardless of the adversary's capability.
Stealth Mode
App disguises as a calculator, weather app, or notes. At DSE (State Security) inspections, your phone shows nothing suspicious. Cuba's security services confiscate phones during arrests and protests — stealth mode ensures Trellis is invisible. Running processes display innocent names. No digital trace.
Duress PIN & Anti-Forensics
If forced to unlock your phone during arrest, the duress PIN opens a clean fake interface. Real data destroyed in under 3 seconds. Defeats device extraction tools. Over 1,300 Cubans were detained after July 11 — many with their phones used as evidence. Trellis ensures no evidence survives.
Offline Content Sharing
Cuba's "paquete semanal" (weekly package) culture — USB drives with curated content passed hand to hand — proves Cubans already share media offline. Trellis enables encrypted content sharing through the mesh. News, messages, and updates distributed without ETECSA. The paquete, digitized and encrypted.
Dead Contact Protocol
If you don't check in within a configurable time, trusted contacts are automatically notified via mesh relay. Data wiped. After July 11, many detained Cubans simply disappeared for weeks — families had no information. Dead Contact Protocol ensures your network knows when something happens.
Free for All Cuban Users
Geofencing auto-detects Cuban users and grants full premium features for free. No ETECSA billing. No payment. No account. In a country where internet costs more per hour than the average daily wage, no one should pay for the right to communicate freely. Free for every Cuban, forever.
How Trellis Reaches Cuba
Cuba's existing paquete semanal culture and SNet heritage prove that Cubans are experts at informal distribution. Trellis integrates with these existing channels.
Paquete Semanal Integration
Cuba's weekly USB package distribution network reaches millions. Trellis APKs included in trusted paquetes. The same network that distributes movies, music, and apps can distribute encrypted communication tools. Already the largest offline distribution network in the Americas.
Miami Diaspora Relay
Over 1.5 million Cuban-Americans in South Florida run Trellis relay nodes. 90 miles of ocean, but satellite and VPN bridges span the gap. The Miami-Havana connection is the strongest diaspora link in the Western Hemisphere. Every Cuban-American relay node strengthens the mesh inside Cuba.
Bluetooth & WiFi Park Sharing
WiFi parks are where Cubans gather to get online. They're also perfect for mesh seeding. Share the APK via Bluetooth at WiFi parks. One device seeds the mesh in a crowded park, spreading to dozens in minutes. The gathering points that ETECSA created become the distribution nodes for its replacement.
Mesh Network Growth
Havana's dense urban fabric is ideal for mesh networking. Apartment blocks, neighborhoods, city streets — BLE and WiFi Aware hop from phone to phone. SNet reached 70,000 with homemade equipment. Trellis can reach millions with just the phones people already carry.
Satellite Gateway via Florida
Satellite connections bridging the Florida Straits. Trellis devices in Cuba near satellite terminals become gateways for entire neighborhoods. One satellite link serves hundreds of mesh-connected devices. Messages from central Havana reach Miami in seconds, bounced from orbit.
SNet Was the Prototype. Trellis Is the Product.
When ETECSA Cuts Data
BLE mesh networking connects phones across Havana neighborhoods. WiFi Aware extends range. Messages hop device to device. No ETECSA. No WiFi parks. No data plans. SNet proved this works in Cuba. Trellis puts it in every phone, encrypted and invisible.
When Internet Is Throttled
7 VPN protocols with automatic failover. Shadowsocks and V2Ray optimized for Cuba's infrastructure. Domain fronting through CDNs. Anti-throttle technology maintains communication even at 10% bandwidth. Your message gets through even when ETECSA wants silence.
During Protests
Mesh creates real-time communication across protest sites. No ETECSA needed. Messages and live updates propagate through the crowd. Photos reach someone with satellite access, then reach Miami. The world sees what's happening. July 11 will never again go dark.
When You're Detained
Stealth mode shows a calculator. Duress PIN destroys data in under 3 seconds. Anti-forensic protection. Over 1,300 detained after July 11 — phones were the primary evidence. Trellis ensures no trace of your communications survives seizure.
Cuba Already Built the Future. We Just Need to Finish It.
Cuba is unique. It's the one country on earth where tens of thousands of citizens voluntarily built their own mesh network from scratch. SNet wasn't a tech company's product. It was rooftop antennas, ethernet cables run between buildings, and a community of 70,000 people who decided that if the government wouldn't give them the internet, they'd build their own.— Trellis Project · Built on the Foundation Cuba Laid
The government destroyed SNet. But they couldn't destroy the knowledge, the community, or the desire. When July 11 happened and ETECSA cut the internet, the absence of SNet was felt immediately. If the mesh had still existed, the shutdown would have failed.
Trellis is the successor to SNet. Not built on rooftops, but in every phone. Not visible to the government, but invisible through stealth mode. Not just for Havana, but for every city on the island. Encrypted, satellite-connected, and free. Cuba taught the world that mesh networking is a human instinct. Trellis makes it unstoppable.
84 patents pending. Free for every Cuban. Because the people who built SNet deserve a network that can't be shut down.
Keep Cuba Connected
Join the waitlist. Share with Cuban communities in Miami. Every new device is a mesh node that ETECSA cannot control. SNet was the beginning. Trellis is the future.
Spanish language fully supported · Free for all Cuban users · 84 patents pending