Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

toasternet
     
         1. A low cost, low tech, publicly accessible
        local community {network}.  This is probably an extension of
        the term "{toaster}" used to mean a small, cheap, slow
        computer.
     
        {community networks
        (gopher://gopher.well.sf.ca.us/00/Community/communets/about.nets)}.
     
        2. The title of some informal notes on {Internet address}ing,
        ("Toasternet Part I and II"), circulated on the {IETF}
        {mailing list} during November 1991 and March 1992.
     
        Subsequent work was published in June 1993 in {RFC 1475} and
        {RFC 1476} and the "{CATNIP}" {Internet-Draft} by Robert
        L. Ullmann
     
        (1995-05-01)