An excellent 'BluePrint' newsletter from ARCchart entitled 'Too Wide for Wi-Fi' takes a look at the way that emerging technologies like WiMAX, EV-DO and HSDPA are threatening the basic concept of the Wi-Fi hotspot. The increasing deployment of wide area networks will soon give consumers many more options in getting wireless Internet connectivity while on the move -- and the Wi-Fi hotspot will be the least attractive option by far.

It's all about timing -- as ARCchart puts it, "The unfortunate irony for hotspot operators is that, now that their networks are widely deployed and Wi-Fi laptops have reached a decent level of penetration, laptop manufacturers have now started to embed cellular broadband technologies alongside Wi-Fi, expanding the choice of wireless networks users have access to."

ARCchart admits that people have been predicting the demise of Hotspots for years -- but the increasing availability of wide area networks poses a very real threat. The only hope for hotspots, it seems, is a combined business model -- one which gives users access to both a hotspot network and a wide area network for one fee, allowing them to use whichever network provides faster speeds in a given location.

For the small, independent hotspot provider, though, the game's up.