Off The Grid Meaning

(idiomatic) Isolated; in a remote location; in seclusion; not participating in some official process or system.

Example: 2005 March 18, Bethany Lyttle, "Energy-Efficient Houses: Lowering the Long-Term Cost," New York Times (retrieved 6 Dec 2011):
  [T]his 1,250-square-foot earth-covered house relies on solar power and is off the grid.
Not connected to a publicly available communication system, such as the world-wide web or a mobile telephone network.
2009, J. Gale Morrison, We Were the Zonks!, ISBN 9781608441396, p. 263:
  He has no desire to be found. His place was off the grid. The cabin had no television, phone, or computer.
2008 May 4, Julia Chaplin, "Riding the Waves of Peru," New York Times (retrieved 6 Dec 2011):
  The beach looked like a small swatch of an industrial wasteland. . . . He had promised me a crowd-free break that was off the grid, and here it was.
2011, James Knapp, Element Zero, Penguin, ISBN 9780451463920, online edition:
  They were off the grid—no IDs, no homes, no names, nothing.