?It?s a chaotic mess,? says wireless consultant Alan Reiter in Newsweek: Alan's quoted in a short Newsweek article explaining why airport access has been so fragmented and lagged other deployments of hot spots. The report notes that adding service requires bringing in contractors who then need security clearance.
Many sites have opted for PoE (power over Ethernet), available under various brand names, to avoid having to use an electrician: they can focus just on network wiring. (Of course, in Washington State, as of a couple of years ago, you need an electrical contractor's license to install low-voltage wiring, which would include PoE or plain Ethernet.)
The previously reported story on Engim (see below) dovetails with this, as does Vivato's unique antenna. With Vivato, you need fewer antennas to serve the same place. With Engim, because each access point has at least three channels, you need fewer APs, and you could even dedicate one of those channels to WDS (wireless distribution system) or other AP-to-AP bridging modes, reducing the necessity for network wiring.