The New York Times has an odd piece about Wi-Fi as a building amenity: The fundamental problem with this article is that it views Wi-Fi as something that's installed and generally tinkered with only when there's a problem, sort of like plumbing or an electrical system. In fact, Wi-Fi is fairly organic and must be actively managed. There is a model for an office to install a robust Wi-Fi system that would use multiple virtual LANs (VLANs) and multiple SSIDs to allow each company to have unique, secured paths across the wireless network within their offices or in public spaces in the building.
Generic Wi-Fi, like "here's a password, here's a network name," only works in residential settings or where small businesses are involved, and even there, there must be some kind of security overlay that would prevent neighbors and neighboring businesses from sniffing each other's traffic.
The reason building managers are not installing Wi-Fi for commercial operations is that any business of any scale will want to own, operate, manage, and upgrade its own network facilities. There is a case in which each VLAN/SSID combination could point to an individual company's own authentication or RADIUS server, but even that's a little wonky for any medium-sized business. Home users are just going to plug a Wi-Fi adapter into broadband, whether a building-wide wired service or something they pay for themselves.
This article has a bit myopia about Wi-Fi as a technology versus applications that run over Wi-Fi. For instance, this statement from a commercial real estate brokerage director: "For larger businesses, with 100,000 square feet or more, installing wireless Internet access might be less costly than hard-wiring all work stations, Mr. Popkin said."
That's true, but it's all about applications. For a video or graphics intensive business, they'll be using gigabit Ethernet everywhere, hang the cost, because network delays would result in less efficient use of staff. For a firm with lots of consultants and few permanent office space, or salespeople in and out, Wi-Fi makes sense because the staff doesn't have to switch modalities when they're in or out of the office. They just have access to the applications and network resources they need.