I absolutely agree that ISPs are the nexus point for a truly decentralized internet. I've honestly been surprised that ISPs haven't leveraged/abused their oligopoly more than they have.

> If any wifi mesh net appears, it would be a good start, but I'm skeptical it would become widespread.

We do have cjdns, Project Meshnet and the Hyperboria network in Seattle. Still pretty fledgling, though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cjdns

https://projectmeshnet.org/

http://hyperboria.net/