Leader: Making wi-fi a must-have

In the last few weeks we've seen the appearance of wi-fi-enabled lampposts, one university banning the technology because of health fears, and now the City of London announcing plans to provide blanket wireless internet across the Square Mile.

Wi-fi is clearly here to stay, in all its wonderful forms.

But it's just as clear that nobody really knows how it will be used outside of the consumer space and who will make money out of it.

Hence a number of networks have sprung up with different motivations and business models.

While City workers will have to pay for the privilege of accessing the web on the move, a couple of miles to the north the lucky burghers of Islington will be surfing for free.

It's great the City of London is getting blanket coverage but it's hard to see - for now at least - why many people would use it. Most City workers are chained to their desks and so won't need the ability to surf on the move, and for those on a longer leash many companies have wi-fi in their offices and lobbies already.

So visitors and the Corporation of London itself are likely to be the biggest winners from this particular network.

Another issue is that at the moment one of the big barriers to adoption is payments. Workers don't want to have to pay one company for access when they are surfing over a coffee in a West End café, then pay another company for access on a train and then a third back over in the City.

People want the same roaming experience they get with mobile phones - switch it on and go. Until that happens, for many businesses wi-fi will remain a nice curiosity rather than a must-have.