Just found this article on Daily Wireless
http://www.dailywireless.org/2008/03/11/the-open-mesh-revolution/
Meraki, it says, turned away from providing the hardware for a consumer supported mesh net by going too much in the commercial direction. But...
Michael Burmeister-Brown announced a new product and company designed to fill the void left by Meraki — Open-Mesh.
Maybe we'll have that consumer supported mesh net after all.