Intel released their annual Most Unwired City list today: The list is compiled by a reputable third party, Sperling's BestPlaces, which looked at the density of hotspots by population, or how many hotspots per 100,000 residents. I would be interested to see the dispersion of hotspots, too. If you have 500 hotspots in a city and 95 percent are in the downtown, I would think that's less wired than having 50 percent downtown and 5 percent in each of 10 major neighborhoods.
My home town of Seattle was ranked No. 1 in the list this year, which makes sense given the growth in hotspot service I've seen here. All new coffeeshops seem to add free Wi-Fi as an expected amenity, while Starbucks was first to build out Seattle via MobileStar and then T-Mobile; T-Mobile is headquartered on the other side of the little pond we call Lake Washington. Here's the coverage in The Seattle Times and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Intel got a lot of press buzz for the buck: stories are pouring in from newspapers all across the country. A slow news week coupled with a hot topic equals column inches. Especially in early June as the summer doldrums already start setting in.
See coverage about Chicago; Allentown, Penn.; Bergen-Passaic, New Jersey; West Palm Beach-Boca Raton; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Cincinnati; Akron; and many others. Check your local newspaper: I bet there's a story there, too. Reuters and AP filed brief articles as well.