Mobile Wi-Fi slowly, awkwardly starts to come together

[Commentary] The promise of anywhere access when on the go is old hat, promised but not delivered by all sorts of providers for more than a decade. How long have you heard about Wi-Fi on airplanes, Wi-Fi hotspots wherever you travel for business, municipal Wi-Fi, and so on? Finally, that promise is starting to surface, as I was reminded in the last month when I traveled to several cities for various events. But the rough spots are still there, and wireless access is still very much a crapshoot when you're on the road. First the good news: It is easier to connect via Wi-Fi from your laptop, smartphone, or iPad. In fact, iPads are showing up in traveler circles fast. A colleague noted last week that in his cross-country flight's business-class section, there were two iPads, two iPhones, two or three BlackBerrys, a couple MacBooks, and a Windows laptop in use. Aircell, which provides in-flight Wi-Fi service, says iPads already account for 2.5 percent of devices that access its service.