Another possibility would be to have an invenstment in a wireless hub.
3com will give you a '63 port' wireless hub with three wireless cards for 
$1400.  You get 11mbps at 300 feet and about 1mbps at 1000 feet.  That helps
with the problem of 'how do I get my cat5 across the street?'  You could build
a 'bandwidth coop' and charge people for what they use.  You could do this a 
number of ways, include Linux IP Accounting (for burstable accounts) and / or
traffic shaper for fixed bandwith accounts.  I am seriously looking into cheap
low-end equipment to offer services like these to people that live and work
around me.  With our neighborhood eight miles from the CO, and no cable access
in sight until 2002 it could be something worth doing.  Set yourself up squid
and you're all set to go.  BTW if you've never looked at the squid caching
proxy server, it is definately worthwhile.  I've never seen a more configurable
proxy server ever.

Just a thought....

Mike Neuliep
mike@illiana.net