I’ve brought this up in the past on the old forums. I think there could be an opportunity to build communities where they remove the dependence of ISPs. Is there still any interest in developing a project for a Dallas Mesh Network? It is still very relevant in the news.
Resource links:
http://www.reddit.com/r/DallasMeshnet/
https://projectmeshnet.org/
https://opengarden.com/
A couple of barriers of making this project successful that need to be resolved
- Wireless hardware. The mesh network needs a wireless infrastructure. My thought is to use a ubiquitous device like a LinkSys router with an open source gateway in order to keep it low cost.
- Ease of connectivity. The mesh network needs to be accessed seamlessly and quickly. This is where good application software will need to be developed. Firechat and Open Garden are the types of apps that could solve this.