Craig Mathias, an analyst at Farpoint Group in Ashland, Mass., who has advised many cities on such installations, said it is not surprising that UC-Berkeley encountered resistance to its use of utility poles and city-owned poles "because those represent a source of potential revenue" for their owners.

The issue is sure to heat up as conventional service providers, colleges, corporate campuses and cities begin providing more wide-scale outdoor wireless mesh networks, he said.

Because it placed the access points on buildings, the university had to set up directional antennas to link them to users on the ground, Archibald noted.

Because UC-Berkeley is a test environment for the wireless mesh, Cisco donated the equipment for the network, he said, adding that the products used are valued at about US$125,000. Cisco said its 1500 APs start at $3,999.

The primary reason the school wanted an outdoor mesh is to remain competitive with other schools, Archibald said. "Students coming here today have grown up with wireless technology and just sort of expect that we'll have ubiquitous coverage in as many places as possible," he said.