In an article over at Digital Lifestyles ("A Wi-Fi'd Welshman In New York"), the UK's Mike Slocombe rhapsodizes about the ease and efficiency of finding Wi-Fi spots all over New York City:

"Unlike the UK, where the provision of Wi-Fi is often only seen as a revenue earner for landlords, café owners and telecoms companies, we had no problem hooking up for free all over New York. Maybe it's the fact that the apartments are so small in New York - or that the coffee keeps on getting refilled for free - but we were surprised by the popularity of cafes and bars serving up free Wi-Fi to their customers.

Wherever we went, a quick boot up of our laptop (or i-Mate JAMM smartphone/SanDisk wi-fi card) would inevitably produce a mile long list of networks available. We successfully logged in for free all over New York - in the East Village, Williamsburg, Lower East Side, Central Park, SoHo, you name it! - and were able to fire off emails and download tunes while enjoying coffee and bagels in several fine hostelries."