Maybe this belongs in the YaCy Grid area, though I don’t know exactly where that is headed, I have, since reading this and similar articles; https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3np4a/new-municipal-broadband-map thought what is needed is peer-to-peer search technology for such semi-independent or “free” mesh networks.
There is resistance to the adoption of Mesh Networking by the monopolies wanting to have control over internet access. It seems part of the problem is having to partner with Google, and that being legislated against in one way or another, and I tend to think being tethered to another effective or virtual “monopoly” for search services, without which such a network would be dysfunctional if not impossible, might become a problem. I thought what is needed is peer-to-peer search technology to allow these “independent” networks to become truly independent.
I was not aware that any such technology existed at that time. I did not know about YaCy.
Perhaps YaCy could be the ideal search solution for community mesh networks.