Mesh networking hasn't really worked out. WISPs, i.e. Wireless Internet Service Providers, do a great job at serving rural (and other) areas.
Have you heard of CJDNS[1]? or BATMAN[2]?
Hyperboria[3] is multiple sizeable deployments of CJDNS. Maybe you heard of Freifunk[4] in Germany, with over 40k access points so far.
[1] https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns