After a year and a half living with residential service delivered via a Municipal Wi-Fi model, I can say it doesn't work well for that purpose.

The VOIP was blotchy.

Customer premises equipment that I had to purchase up front – a Hawking Technology signal booster in particular – failed way too soon, but, of course, just after the one year warranty expired.

Service from the provider sucked.

Nodes on light poles have a place in the quest to expand lower cost broadband access . . . if you're within a couple hundred feet.

One alternative to make Wi-Fi work as it should – propagating a signal over short hops - is the Meraki.Net solution, as enhanced by NetEquality.Org.

It's an intriguing grass roots Internet Service Provider opportunity for any local interested in serving their immediate area.

The stumbling block is that way too many of the incumbent broadband providers – telcos and the cable guys – don't allow the sharing of connections at the extreme local level.

What's needed is the mandate that those ISPs granted franchises or easements by governments, those who are obligated to serve in the public interest, permit connection sharing.

The ultimate compromise is to allow for the metering of bandwidth, in a fair and equitable manner.