5:50 PM -- So it seems as if EarthLink Inc. (Nasdaq: ELNK) could bow to the inevitable and get out of the municipal WiFi mesh game altogether.

The firm said that it won't spend any more on its muni projects and is examining "strategic alternatives" for the unit. Much of its flagship projects are already struggling, and now Philadelphia looks to be in trouble.

I'm not, however, going to do the mesh gloom-and-doom dance just yet. EarthLink apparently tried to take on too much. Despite that, the municipal mesh wireless equipment market is still growing. Its just that smaller towns are buying into mesh, rather than the massive cities. (See Mesh on the Up & Up?)

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung