It appears the Austrians and Germans have built themselves quite a network on 2.4 and 5.8GHz in the last few years.

http://wiki.oevsv.at/index.php?title=Kategorie:Digitaler_Backbone

It looks impressive.  A couple of these links run within feet of people I know.  I could have tried it out last summer if I'd known about it.

Scott N7SS