U of York and BT's broadband balloon
Between 3G, pervasive WiFi, and (sigh) satellite, there are definitely options for getting your wireless data on. But assuming, say, oh we don't know, a massive storm were to strike, we can imagine the University of York and BT's broadband balloon could be rather useful (assuming the damned thing doesn't get blown away). The balloon relays data at up to 120Mbps from high altitudes—it was tested at 24km (~15 miles) for nine hours at 11Mbps—but we're not so sure about their plans for rollout in unwired suburban areas. After all, we're down with not having to worry about our WiMax towers blowing off into the jet stream, y'know?
