Many of the municipal wireless projects in the United States rely on mesh-networking, which uses a series of less expensive nodes to help keep costs low. But the networking solution is why a number of Muni-Fi deployments are behind schedule and technically troubled, insists the CEO of Israeli WiFi software equipment company InspiAir. But as GigaOM's Katie Fehrenbacher reports, InspiAir is busy trying to sell their own competing technology.

Therefore InspiAir has been saying a lot of things, including that their technology offers five-times the range of more traditional options. Wireless experts like Glenn Fleishman haven't been buying it. A Tropos exec doesn't buy it either. "Yeah, I’ve heard they’ve (InspiAir) been dissing mesh," says Tropos’ Director of Marketing Bert Williams. "WiFi, whether it be regular or mesh, has the same limitations that the Internet has on sharing bandwidth. You have to layer a quality of service over it."