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Yet another wireless mesh networking paper. Here's the executive summary. Here's the 3 point and above comments from slashdot.
Seems like even the geeks are still arguing the main point. Can bandwidth really increase as the number of nodes in a given area increases? This is (I think, with my limited math skills) what David P. Reed is claiming (maybe start looking here.) But it seems counterintuitive to most people, so I guess we're really going to need a large scale demonstration to prove the skeptics wrong.
But then there is a second level of problems. Even if it turns out this is possible, mathematically, it won't be as profitable for the entrenched players as the proprietary wires and spectrum model they are now operating under. So it may not be possible to change to a technically better system for purely economic reasons.
One scenario where I could imagine wireless mesh networks really taking off is after some sort of major disruption. Like if the telecoms all went bankrupt. Or some governmental entity shut the internet down. Or any of a couple even worse scenarios. But without the present imperfectly working system going away, I can't see people caring (or even understanding) enough to force this change.
But I can still hope. And maybe it can start, locally, not as a replacement to the internet but as a seperate layer that augments the current global net.