[Animats]

I thought they were going to put microcells in solar powered street lights. No. This claim assumes the street lights retain both power and fiber optic connectivity.

Some areas in hurricane country are going to solar powered street lighting.[1] There are several manufacturers which make solar panel powered units tough enough for that. Giving them minimal cellular capability (voice and text only, RF relay to each other) might be worth it. There's a minor startup opportunity there, coming up with a low-cost, very rugged, very long life unit which can do that.

[1] http://www.sepco-solarlighting.com/projects/solar-street-lig...

[sitkack]

Seattle is undergoing a near total replacement of their old street lights to LED. At the same time, they have squandered an opportunity to install a wireless mesh work that is already wired for power and has great line of site. The hot nodes could be downlinked to fiber/dsl/etc.

[rmason]

The same is true with Detroit which is replacing all their street lamps with LED's. This is doubly sad because Detroit is a leader in establishing urban mesh networks.

I've met with some of the volunteers building the mesh network and they're helping cities all over the world. An amazing group but sadly outside of the tech world their efforts are virtually unknown.

[superuser2]

I'm sure your local cable monopoly fought it as "unfair competition."

[sitkack]

It isn't as simple as that. I'd put the problem squarely in the lap of the city counsel. An arcane and exclusionary last-to-touch rule for pole repairs and a council that can't actually make any decisions results in only mud.