At this point, it really is a collection of hobbyists who want to help but can't offer much, however every day we acquire one or two more skilled, dedicated engineers/techs to help. IRC user Tanuki is currently running a meshnet project in Australia with 150 users over 200 KM. He was just offered satellite time for distant sites!
So is this like a true mesh network, or just a traditional wireless network. If it's a mesh network, do nodes have multiple point-to-point links. I assume they would over the larger than a few km distances you're talking about.
Hybrid network is fine for now, and maybe even desirable to get it off the ground and make it usable for most people. Just try making it work as well as possible with what technologies we have now, and as they improve in the next decade or so, it should become easier to achieve a true mesh network.
