On Monday, Verizon announced that if you pay them $69.99/month (on a one year contract) or more for Fios Internet or $29.99/month for Version DSL, you deserve free Wi-Fi at Verizon’s Hot Spots located across the country.

Verizon has partnered with the Wi-Fi service Boingo to offer access in thousands of locations throughout the U.S. including hotels, airports, restaurants, coffee shops, retailers, convention centers and public locations across the U.S.

On the same day, Barnes & Noble announced that they have partnered with AT&T (my personal favorite technology company) to offer free Wi-Fi inside all B&N bookstores nation wide.

We have always wanted our stores to feel like home—a place where people can relax, explore and connect with ideas and each other at their leisure. So it is only natural that, in today’s world, we want our customers to enjoy complimentary Wi-Fi. You can explore the world the way you always have at Barnes & Noble with the technology that connects us to the world today.

While you are connected, you can text, IM, make VOIP calls, read, download, and just communicate. You are not out of reach. People flock to free Wi-Fi. You think it was hard to find a chair at Barnes & Noble before, now you have to fight with the guy who is not even reading a book. He’s crunching spreadsheets and posting to his blog. His home office is Barnes & Noble (or Starbucks, or a Verizon Hot Spot). For $4/day (price of coffee), he can start a business from the comfort of these locations. With a Wi-Fi spot, you don’t need a expensive phone/data plan. You can get a VOIP account and take calls from your iPod or hook up a mic/headset to your notebook.

Nothing is more frustrating then having to leave my house to get some treats (or necessities), have a great idea, and then being stuck with limited ways to foster the idea. We race home, only to have forgotten the minor details that make the idea POP.

Sure, you can write your idea down on a napkin, but wouldn’t you rather research, develop, and send you idea to a partner? Of course. So I’m only going to the cafe, bookstore, coffee house, or restaurant that allows me to accomplish this. The one that give me free-ish (price of service) Wi-Fi.

So is this the beginning of “muni” Wi-Fi? Imagine with me, the following scenario: you complete your Skype call with your mom, and head to the cafe for some breakfast. When you arrive, you can access the cafe’s Wi-Fi because the code is listed on the menu. You order your breakfast and start reading the daily news on your iPod (Kindle, etc.). After your meal, you head next door for some window shopping. You have left the cafe, but you are still connected. Why; because the code you used was good for the building (not the just the cafe). In fact, you have access to the Internet no matter where you go in the strip mall/complex. It’s one of the main reasons you frequent this complex and all the shops benefit.

This post was not completed or edited – just flowed from my brain – I’m sorry if it leaves you wanting or frustrated.