So, I've mused about something opposite to this. Will there ever come a time when you are your own carrier? If we can get some talent together I say yes.
The 900mhz, 2400mhz and 5ghz ISM bands are free for the public to use and would be great for creating a coordinated and truely community-supported Nationwide Broadband network.
The devices which make up this network would not be unlike traditional 802.11b/g/n devices but instead of building them with cheap antennae we would produce them to make use of the maximum gain allowed by the FCC.
The devices would have two component networks, a private network which is given bandwidth priority (like wifi). It would be reserved for use by the businesses and homeowners who buy the device. The second component network would be a public network which all owners of these and other compliant devices could access freely.
In order to provide a seamless and secure experience every base station device would have VPN server capabilites on board. When connecting to a public base station, the end device accessing that network can only gain internet access via VPN client connection to their home base station.
To make these base stations smarter, I would like to implement multimode logic into the base station so that it will listen to other base stations and end devices' noise to coordinate with those other devices. As the devices coordinate they will determine which spectrum overlaps and which devices are at capacity. The base stations will use this information to reconfigure the network to be more efficient by offloading users onto other base stations, adjusting power, finally switching frequencies to accommodate range and load requirements.
If the new spray on antenna material that Google endorsed really works on end devices as well as they say, we could be looking at coverage that goes toe to toe with private carriers and wins.
My biggest issues from a big picture perspective are figuring out how much range we would really see and installation of base stations along unpopulated areas like highways.
For estimating the range, I would assume a base station using 4 monopole antennas (for mimo) inside a home at maximum gain (+36dBm ?) and an end device with a (+20dbm) gain.
For the highway issue I feel that the cost for local governments to install these stations would be minimal and could therefore be justified.