URnetwork
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Research program

Friends of the Network

Host a small research node on your home or mobile connection, and help us measure and improve URnetwork where people actually use it.

Apply to host a node

What it is

Friends of the Network is a volunteer program run by the URnetwork research team. We send you a small, enclosed Raspberry Pi node. You plug it into your Wi-Fi, Ethernet or cellular connection, and our team runs network tests on it remotely.

The tests are part of PERFVAR, our agentic research suite. They are modified builds of the URnetwork connect stack that talk back to a central research edge, measuring how the network performs on real connections around the world.

What we learn goes into improving the network, and we publish the results at least quarterly at ur.xyz/research

The node and our research agent run the upcoming ur agentic sidecar, which gives the team remote access to run test binaries on the node. The program is also how we dogfood the sidecar: we'll try to add visibility into the node's network traffic, so you can see what it is doing on your connection.

How hosting works

  • It's voluntary

    Hosting a node is entirely voluntary. There is no contract and nothing to sign.

  • Keep it online

    Do your best to keep the node powered on and connected. We run tests whenever it is available.

  • Your connection, our node

    You provide the power and the connection, including any data plan costs. We send the node and use it when it's available.

  • Stop anytime

    Unplug it whenever you want, for good if you like. You don't need to send the node back.

  • Credit, if you want it

    Friends who opt in are credited by name in the research reports.

  • Swag

    Each node ships with an assortment of URnetwork swag.

Timeline

  • November 10, 2026People chosen for the first shipment are notified by email by this date, to arrange shipping.
  • November 15, 2026The first shipment of nodes is scheduled to go out.

We're aiming for broad coverage of countries and connection types, with no fixed quotas. Every application is considered for this round and for future rounds.

Apply to host a node

Tell us where the node would live and how it would connect.

Nodes ship under US export controls, so we can't ship to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, Belarus, or the Crimea, Donetsk or Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

T-shirts

Optional, up to two. Choose a fit and a size for each.

Hoodies

Optional, up to two. Choose a fit and a size for each.

Optional: comments, questions, or anything about your connection we should know.

Your application goes to the URnetwork team's Slack, where we review it. We don't record your IP address with it. We keep it only to consider you for the program, and delete it when the program ends or sooner if you ask at notice@ur.io. Privacy Policy