The Story Behind The Lab

The Olds Fiber Dream

A decade ago, Olds, Alberta did something incredible. We didn't wait for a giant company to bring us high-speed internet. We built it ourselves. O-Net was Canada's first community-owned gigabit fiber network. It was a beacon of what happens when a community decides to own its future.

I worked in the heart of it. I saw how having the fastest internet in the country changed lives for local businesses, seniors, and students. It wasn't just about speed; it was about ownership.

The Acquisition

But ownership is fragile. Eventually, the community assets were acquired by a corporate giant (TELUS). I watched as the local, personal touch was replaced by automated menus and corporate extraction.

That experience taught me a hard lesson: If you don't own the "water" (the services), it doesn't matter how fast the "pipes" (the fiber) are.

This isn’t about being a "prepper" or going off-grid. This is about building parallel infrastructure that operates on fundamentally different principles.

• Communication: Private ways to talk that can’t be shut down or listened to by giant corporations.
• Storage: A place for your photos and documents that isn't sitting in a warehouse in another country.
• Passwords: Keeping your digital keys in a box you own, not a database that can be breached.

The Bridge

I founded Jord's Infra Lab because I believe we can't let our community's digital life be purely "rented." We need to go beyond just "internet access." We need to own our data and our privacy.

I am not here to sell you a black box you don't understand. I am here to be the bridge between the technical complexity of modern computers and your family's need for safety. I’m taking everything I learned building municipal-scale networks and scaling it down to the neighborhood level.

I worked in the heart of it. I saw how having the fastest internet in the country changed lives for local businesses, seniors, and students. It wasn't just about speed; it was about ownership.

The Pivot

But ownership is fragile. Eventually, the community assets were acquired by a corporate giant (TELUS). I watched as the local, personal touch was replaced by automated menus and corporate extraction.

That experience taught me a hard lesson: If you don't own the "water" (the services), it doesn't matter how fast the "pipes" (the fiber) are.

This isn’t about being a "prepper" or going off-grid. This is about building parallel infrastructure that operates on fundamentally different principles.

• Communication: Private ways to talk that can’t be shut down or listened to by giant corporations.
• Storage: A place for your photos and documents that isn't sitting in a warehouse in another country.
• Passwords: Keeping your digital keys in a box you own, not a database that can be breached.

The Bridge

I founded Jord's Infra Lab because I believe we can't let our community's digital life be purely "rented." We need to go beyond just "internet access." We need to own our data and our privacy.

I am not here to sell you a black box you don't understand. I am here to be the bridge between the technical complexity of modern computers and your family's need for safety. I’m taking everything I learned building municipal-scale networks and scaling it down to the neighborhood level.