Do you know where the closest Wi-Fi hotspot is to your office?  To your house?  In the cities you frequent for business or pleasure?  If you're a mobile computer, you most likely have a few of these hotspots memorized.  And as Wi-Fi grows both in popularity and scope, more and more of these hotspots will most likely pop up.

Enid Burns, writing for ClickZ, has an interesting look at the current state of Wi-Fi, the players, and the forms of monetization that Wi-Fi has been taking around the country.

Some businesses offer Wi-Fi as an incentive to visit their stores.  Some cities offer Wi-Fi around heavy business-oriented parts of town.  And of lot public places around town, like universities, hospitals, and shopping malls offer Wi-Fi access as a service to customers.

As the ClickZ article points out, some of these Wi-Fi access points are paid for directly by users on a per-usage basis.  Others, and a growing number of new hotspots, are being supported by advertising.  Local businesses, in particular, could stand to benefit from this growth in ad-supported Wi-Fi access.

By entering their zip code to connect, Wi-Fi users can help advertising companies deliver ads specific to the area in which the customer is currently located.  National advertising is still done on Wi-Fi networks, but many feel that local ads would be better suited for the platform.

Do you think Wi-Fi is the future of Internet access in the United States?  Will we all be using wireless Internet access paid for by advertisers in 5 years?  In 10 years?  Will Wi-Fi ever replace existing Internet access as the dominant way that people connect to the Internet?

Update: After writing this post, we decided to add Wi-Fi coverage to our new War Room.  If you're interested in the growing Wi-Fi market, keep an eye on the War Room for more coverage.