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There are a bunch of hotspot lists, including wireless anarchy. Hell, I even provide a hotspot list, but we get ours from people wardriving.

But I can't build a road with $1000 in my pocket. You still haven't made a case for why the government should run a wifi network, instead of the people. Plenty of people are already doing this in places where the incumbents suck, and without taking tax dollars to do it.

See FreeNetworks.org, Consume or Wireless Anarchy for more.

I tried to run a wireless network in my house for awhile, and I can tell you that unless you live in a wharehouse or have those japanese-style paper walls, wireless is worthless.
First off, 802.11b uses the 2.4 GHz band, the same as the newer wireless phones and MICROWAVE OVENS. (as well as incedental radiation from some flourescent lights). 2.4 GHz is also the approximate resonating frequency of water molecules (hence its utilization in microwave ovens)so high humidity, waterpipes, and PEOPLE between the antennas tend to f0x0r up the reception.
I dropped WAAY too much money on a Linksys setup, and I hated it. Even with the newest drivers and hardware flash updates it was almost impossible to get the damn thing to transmit through more than one exterior wall or 2 interior walls. And even when I could make it work I got slower transfer rates than RFC1149.
Two tech calls to Linksys (at 45 min apice)later I finally broke down and dropped cat5. (I also learned that Linksys considers 802.11b to be a "Line of Sight" protocol.)
I faced similar restrictions in hole-drilling, but generally, with a little work (and a little sense) one can overcome such restrictions. Check your phone and cable drops. These do not have to be stapled in to meet code, so you can tag a picec of cat5 on and just pull it through into either your attic or crawlspace and BAM! You could even spring for those cool Leviton integrated faceplates and jack phone and data out on the same plate. Same goes for cable.
Or, as a last resort, talk to your landlord, tell him you'll pay to add value to his property. They like that.
If you absolutley MUST go wireless, though, hit wirelessanarchy.com. The pringles can antenna works pretty well sometimes. But Linksys uses proprietary antenna connectors-- gender inverted TNC and SMA connectors. Theyre a bitch to get a hold of.

consume.net in the UK are pioneering this kinda thing. There's also a whole raft of other community based wireless links at Wireless Anarchy.

Al.

HantsWireless - Hampshire Wireless

SurreyWireless - Surrey Wireless

is at wirelessanarchy.com

Melbourne's *community* network is http://wireless.org.au and a full list of global community networks is at http://wirelessanarchy.com

heres a full list of all 15 wireless networks in australia

Looks like we're going to have to turn to Wireless Anarchy

Pass the Pringles!

The sitrep for NZ can be found in the New Zealand ADSL mailing list archives and the situation is bleak indeed.

However, there is one NZ ISP that's not only promoting wireless anarchy by allowing tunnelled static IPs over flat-rate DSL, but has set up their own 802.11b network in Albany. Despite their name, Win Internet are extremely linux-friendly.

Again, I say: Please Pass the Pringles!

Superfast wireless is really cool, but the point is moot if you want to surf the web through these things. Most web content is accessible at 56K, right?

Of course, if everyone had one, then we wouldn't need the physical net. Peace, Love, and Anarchy

guess everyone will have to use community wireless networks instead of paying your $19.95 to download email

check http://www.wirelessanarchy.com or start your own page and get it added, pretty soon others will start contacting you and before you know it, you've created one in your hometown.