Here in Chattanooga, we have two large, popular public parks that are both outfitted with high-speed, wireless and FREE Internet access. It's awesome.
One, Miller Park (and Miller Plaza, directly across the street), is smack-dab downtown, so all the office and business types can eat lunch and surf or do business. The other, Coolidge Park, is about a mile or so north, right on the banks of the Tennessee River that winds through the city.
That's the park that shows Friday night free movies on a big screen (Willy Wonka, Wizard of Oz, etc.) and before the movie starts, you'll see people on their blankets or lawn chairs with their laptops open, surfing, e-mailing, etc.
I've gone down before, on a Saturday or Sunday, just to watch the kite-flyers, barges and power-walking soccer moms (
) and take my PowerBook and enjoy the morning.
Athens, Georgia is set up like this, I heard. Or at least a large section of it. I figure in five or so years, it'll be fairly common and expected. My friend was just in Quantico, Virginia a few weeks ago, and while flying out of Richmond, VA, back to New Orleans, she opened her iBook up and found that the entire airport was set up with wireless free Internet access. Suddenly, her two-hour layover didn't seem so bad. She e-mailed me from there, "guess where I am?".