Had breakfast with a friend on Friday at the Bagel Bin, a bagel and coffee shop around the corner from his house (and just down the street from my mom and sister). He had his Powerbook open when I got here, so I asked if they had wifi access there. He nodded. So I asked what they were charging. "Nothing," he replied. Woohoo!
The wifi is being provided by Forza Networks, which looks like it will be expanding into a variety of other locations in Rochester soon (including local government buildings and hotels). I did have to register with basic information about myself (no credit card, though). After that, it's a simple sign-in.
Seems that Forza is successfully convincing local businesses that providing this kind of service for free is a wise marketing decision. I'm an excellent case in point for them--I've been taking my kids to the Starbucks across the street almost every weekend for several years. But based on the free wifi, I'll be switching locations. Everybody wins. (Except Starbucks, with its overpriced TMobile access...)
The UK is only just beginning to roll out hotspots, mostly in London, some hotels, some parts of some airports and no Starbucks I've been in. BT are just rolling out their new package which is priced even worse than the T-Mobile deal is in the US.
Free open subsidy deals have to be the way to go.