Low cost codec/internet for remotes

I'm helping a group do some remote broadcasting of local high school football games. The favorite way is to just use a usb mixer to laptop and stream to the studio. The issue is a solid internet connection. the stream drops with the current connection through the high school. Also on away games it would be nice to have a reliable service/setup.

Do any wi-fi hot spots work for this application? Short of purchasing a Comerex Access, what is an under $1000 solution for a codec only wireless solution. The current mixer/headphone set up works fine. What are the latency issues if any. Games are in rural King, Kitsap county, Washington state. At the local game location I know we have a Clear wire tower close by. any one use them?

In rural areas you will be hard pressed to find a good 3G data type solution, the best way would be via the schools network as you have been. I would guess that the dropouts are caused by your encoding rate being too high, you may try and scale those back to gain more reliability for the home games. As for the remote games it will all depend on the stadiums you playing at, the tried and true pots codecs work just fine if you can get a true pots line and not one through the schools PBX system. They can be bought used for under $1000 on ebay and elsewhere(IE Comrex Hot Shot, Vector, Matrix), or there is always the old "line extenders" that sounded okay.
As for internet, barix makes goodenough/cheap IP codecs if you can't afford the Comrex Access or Tieline gear.