This was tried in the mid to late 2000s and many of the mesh networks, at least the ones run by cities, were shut down or are much smaller now. The problem with

This was tried in the mid to late 2000s and many of the mesh networks, at least the ones run by cities, were shut down or are much smaller now. The problem with doing things through the legal system or through government is that mesh routing can be seen as competitive to the existing oligopoly (which has more $$ to lobby government to increase barriers to entry). Sharing one beefy connection with 10-20 people in a few nearby houses would be a good first step because it's under the radar of the big telecomm companies and you can't be legally barred from sharing your connection?