Wired News: “Wi-Fi Cloud Covers Rural Oregon”.
It's some 700 square miles of high desert. Businesses, farmers and law-enforcement officials use it.
The wireless network uses both short-range Wi-Fi signals and a version of a related, longer-range technology known as WiMax. While Wi-Fi and WiMax antennas typically connect with the internet over a physical cable, the transmitters in this network act as wireless relay points, passing the signal along through a technique known as "meshing."
The cloud cost some $5 million to set up and service, which a local entrepreneur funded on his own. He is recouping costs from from counties and cities in the cloud.