Tony McCrae
has experiences with using hotspots in manhattan...I've been using the Cornercast public node on Union Square for email. ...
he blogs that "I don't think I've been more than 2 minutes from a wifi signal all week. .....
while it is true that there are a lot of nodes, the more important thing is that most of them are not located in locations that are convinent to work at ... when am working i typically have a tablet and notebook --- not a laptop(its big and heavy but has a high resolution display and maybe 15 inches of viewable screen space). I also often have notes and papers (haven't gone paper free, but am close). I need at least 6 feet squared desk space to work ok (maybe 3 by 2) i could do with a bit less but it wouldn't be the same. I typically settle for chairs and stuff. I also need a place where i can sit for at least 2 hours to get something done....thats why i believe the tablet with new ways of working combined with ubiquitous wifi makes sense.....pocket pcs are coming along but they are limited to tasks like browsing reading or email....so there are nodes all over but you still have to find a place with a table or whatever ... thats the trade off, a weak signal for a practical working space .........oh and its 14 degrees today in new york so you can't really go to bryant park .....