It seemed like we were on the verge of a golden era of free or, at least, inexpensives city-wide municipal WiFi networks a few years ago. This never happened for a mix of business-political, technical, and financial reasons. There are probably a few pockets of municipal WiFi networks out there. But, I can't think of the last time anyone I know talked about using one. Another WiFi related topic we used to hear a lot about but rarely do these days is mesh networking. While conventional WiFi networks required wired connection to many (most) of the WiFi access points, mesh networks can wireless route data between the access point themselves.

Motorola just announced a new access point product that creates a fash 802.11n wireless network that is compatible with slower but widely deployed 802.11b and 802.11g products as well as the efficient but rarely deployed 802.11a products.

Motorola Takes 802.11n Technology Outdoor with Powerful Mesh Wide Area Network Solution