The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted Google the application to use the whitespace spectrum ( along with several other companies).

White space spectrum, or super wifi, or even wifi on steroids as it is sometimes called,  has a much  longer wavelength than traditional wifi,  furthering it’s reach with much better penetration, some initial research showing at can reach over 50 miles.

Here is a video of one of Google founders, Larry Page,  speaking about super wifi , http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/05/larry-page-talks-about-googles-vision.html

The FCC vote : http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/09/fcc-vote-on-white-spaces-lays-promising.html

Combined with mesh networks this would be a game changer, of course the tech would most likely still be currently run by the telco’s and Google, but I am positive some open source ad hoc solutions come out of this new field.