Literally hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world can't be wrong. By offering Wi-Fi hotspot services to their customers, they're gaining traffic, recognition, and affluent customers, not to mention keeping up with the competition. Wi-Fi is not just an amenity in many types of locations -- it's expected now in airports, hotels, public libraries, and many cafes. If you don't have it, people will go elsewhere. Keeping up with email is a 24/7 proposition for many workers, and Wi-Fi hotspots help them integrate Web access into their daily routines.

But major locations like airports and hotel chains have corporate WI-Fi programs in place, and know about the benefits of offering Wi-Fi service. This article is aimed at the small business owner, public librarian, or community worker who is considering offering hotspot service in one or a few locations. Even if you can't produce an additional dime in profits directly from Wi-Fi service, you still might benefit from becoming a hotspot. Places that offer free Internet access, such as Panera Bread and Schlotzsky's deli locations around the country and Newburyopen.net shops along Boston's busy Newbury Street, find that customers who use their wireless connection are more likely to consume more coffee and sandwiches, and come at off-peak hours. Schlotzsky's has noticed a marked improvement in business during the late afternoon, when tables had previously been vacant; while Starbucks reports that most of its Wi-Fi usage occurs after 9am, at the end of the daily rush. Indeed, Schlotzsky's is so happy with its identification with free Wi-Fi, that it is offering the service at all new franchisees.

Michael Oh, CEO of Tech Superpowers, a Macintosh consultancy that runs the free Newburyopen.net Wi-Fi network, says that at Trident Booksellers Cafe, patrons use bookstore-provided scanners to read the barcodes of books and then find out more about them online at Wi-Fi-equipped terminals. If they end up purchasing the books through Amazon.com using the bookstore's affiliate links, the store still makes money off the virtual sale.

Not all businesses can benefit from becoming a hotspot, of course. Restaurants that rely on a high turnover of tables or seats might find it counterproductive to have customers occupy tables for hours while sending email or reading the online Wall Street Journal. But businesses that want to keep customers at their tables, knowing that they'll occasionally stand up to order a high-margin afternoon brownie or another latte, could gain enough incremental revenue by becoming a wireless hotspot to justify the service.

If a high percentage of your customers use laptops at your cafe, restaurant, motel, or bookstore, or if your business is situated near a university or along a "travel ribbon" -- places where students, business travelers, or vacationers are likely to congregate -- it's a safe bet they would welcome the opportunity to connect wirelessly to the Internet. Places like laundromats catering to students, or truckstops along busy highways, are ideal locations. If you dont offer the service, your customers could defect to a competitor who does.

Fortunately, the risks and costs of starting up a hotspot are quite low compared to the possibility of attracting new customers or increasing the loyalty (and spending) of your current habitués.

Basic hotspot equipment is inexpensive (a couple hundred bucks); the bigger cost will be the monthly fee for a business-class broadband DSL or cable line -- something you might want to have anyway for your own purposes, like real-time credit-card processing. (In some locations, DSL or broadband cable may be unavailable, and you might have to resort to a more expensive digital line service, such as ISDN or T1.) This low cost and high return in terms of increased business and goodwill is why many independent cafes and bookstores offer hotspot service for free. It helps them compete against the large chains.

On the other hand, those same chains, like Starbucks, McDonald's, Borders, and Barnes & Noble, will probably never offer the service for free. Wi-Fi freeloaders could flock to these well-known and easily found stores and buy nothing while taking up tables all day. By charging a fee, even a small amount, they ensure that most people are coming for food or books first, and Wi-Fi second, while collecting appropriate monies from people who just want to surf all day.

No matter which route you go, free or fee, you'll need to handle the mechanics of obtaining an Internet connection that you can contractually offer to your customers or visitors, install hardware -- or have it installed -- to run the network, collect fees (if you choose), and handle ongoing troubleshooting and technical support for users. The costs of setting up a hotspot can vary widely depending on whether you want to charge for service or not, and how much control over the network you need to feel comfortable.

So where to start? If we've piqued your interest in setting up a hotspot, there are three basic options:

• Do it yourself. (Not as hard as you might think! Especially for free hotspots.)
• Choose a turnkey solution, incorporating hardware and account/billing management.
• Work with a hotspot operator who installs and maintains equipment as well as handles billing.

After checking them out, you'll be well on the road to taking your business from unwired to wireless.