"If you look at our rankings, the networks that are successful are pushing 40 nodes per square mile," Belanger said. That was certainly the case in St. Cloud, he noted.

Even at that, there were wide discrepancies in actual performance, Belanger said. Toronto was by far the fastest municipal network, with speeds as high as 5Mbit/sec. in some parts of the coverage area and average speeds of 2.2Mbit/sec. for downloads and 1.6Mbit/sec. for uploads. By contrast, the municipal network in Tempe, Ariz., provided average speeds of about 200Kbit/sec. for downloads and roughly half that for uploads, Belanger said.

The much-discussed network in Philadelphia, which is still being built, had average speeds of about 660Kbit/sec. downstream and 100Kbit/sec. upstream. Belanger said the tests were conducted on-site in the second half of 2006, and many of the networks are not yet complete. They also don't have as much traffic as they eventually will. The added traffic, he noted, will affect performance.

"We think performance will decrease as usage goes up," Belanger said. "These rankings are a snapshot in time and in six months we'll do it again."

Municipal wireless service could potentially replace DSL and cable for some users in cities in which the service is widely available, consistently fast and easy to use, Belanger said.