It can take 20 to 90 minutes to wait for your lenses at Eyetique in Squirrel Hill. "At least every other day, someone will ask, 'Do you guys have Wi-Fi?'" said manager Marc Anden.

By January, the optical store expects to have a network ready just for customers to use for free.

Even as cutting costs become a top priority nationwide, businesses continue to incur the expense of free Wi-Fi. While a place like Eyetique does have a "tech-savvy" clientele (these are some dangerously hip frames), the expanding use of smart phones and laptops means even more consumers expect a business -- any business, really -- to double as a hotspot.

Wi-Fi waves ride through sit-down restaurants and pastoral campgrounds where owners say the minimal expense of set-up and equipment reaps dividends in the customers who would have gone elsewhere. Wi-Fi in any business is what HBO was to hotels: once a premium, now an expectation.

And if that means they have to cope with issues such as broadband thieves and customers hogging bandwidth with streamed movies, that's what it takes to compete. Cafes have long dealt with laptop loiters who only buy one cup of coffee, but it seems free Wi-Fi is hard to cut off, no matter where you are.

James Sullivan has made a living with WiFiFreeSpot.com, an online compilation of worldwide no-charge hotspots, for more than six years from his home in Shelburne Falls, Mass. Readers write in with suggestions. Over the summer when travelers find new spots, he often adds more than 200 new listings per week.

Mr. Sullivan, who has been tracking and endorsing free Wi-Fi hotspots since they started appearing in 2003, is an unabashed proponent of free Wi-Fi because it's such a "very, very small" expense for businesses, he said.

"I grew up in the '60s. I'm an old hippie," he said, explaining his populist motivations.

His site sees as many as 7,000 visitors per day.

He's happy to see the growth in free access to the Internet. "Two to three years ago, you couldn't find it driving across the country," he said. "Now anyplace you want it has got it."

The trend toward free service has been slow but steady, he said. Some charging mainstays such as Borders and Barnes & Noble bookstores are converting to free services.

According to a report by media company JiWire, the United States has more Wi-Fi hotspots than any country in the world at more than 67,000 -- more than double the amount found in its nearest competitor, China.

The number of Wi-Fi hotspots -- or active networks -- has grown 400 percent in the past five years.

Most of the Wi-Fi hotspots that still charge a fee are captive audience sites: airports, turnpike stops and, paradoxically, the classiest hotels (whose clients presumably won't settle for a DoubleTree).

"It's just like having running water at every site -- people expect Wi-Fi," said Rick Leclair, owner of the Washington/Pittsburgh Kampground of America. Before he installed the system on his rural property, customers would camp elsewhere.

Mr. Leclair installed the system that covers 20 acres and costs about $100 per month about four years ago. "We've got a master unit, and that is mounted on top of my A-frame building," he said.

Doesn't it ruin the idea of camping?

"Absolutely, it does!" he said. "If you want a campground experience, you don't bring all this. I've seen laptops in tents."

Mr. Leclair monitors the broadband usage, which has capabilities for minor tasks like checking e-mail but doesn't let users stream video and monopolize the campground's bandwidth.

How often does he kick someone off for hogging bandwidth? "Could be daily," he said.

Free Wi-Fi can lure customers inside, even if they're not necessarily wanted. The Omni William Penn Hotel has offered complimentary Wi-Fi in its sizable lobby Downtown for about five years. That attracts guests who conduct business in the classy setting but it also brings out the Wi-Fi squatters, said director of marketing Bob Page.

So long as the lobby's not reaching capacity, the staff is careful not to approach a squatter suspect. "Number one: they could be here waiting on somebody," he said.

Besides, it could be good for business.

"Number two: We don't want to invite everyone in Pittsburgh, but it does bring people here and get them into the lobby. Maybe they'll want to buy a cup of coffee at our Starbucks."

Even sit-down restaurants with old-fashioned reputations have begun offering Wi-Fi, places such as Bob Evans Farm, where plugged-in diners can surf the Web while eating a Pot Roast Hash.

"We started with a couple of restaurants a few months ago and then branched out. It's been positive so far -- we see a lot of people mentioning it on Twitter," said Bob Evans Farm spokesperson Chelsea Hamilton.

Ms. Hamilton said her company was influenced by national trends.

"We know how prominent the social media world is right now, and we wanted to join in that conversation," she said. Competitors like McDonald's -- not a place typically associated with extended stays -- have also branded themselves as Wi-Fi friendly locales.

The importance of a free connection trumps coffee quality for some. That's the case when Carol McKay goes to the café.

The Lawrenceville resident telecommutes for a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., and escapes her home office by working on free Wi-Fi at local cafes. If the choice is between a free connection and bad coffee or a charged connection and good coffee, the free bandwidth takes precedence.

She sits and works and orders her bad coffee.

"I drink it very slowly," Ms. McKay said.

First Published: November 5, 2009, 10:00 a.m.