With the World Cup starting today, there's just about nowhere I'd rather be writing this from than a london pub -- unfortunately, silicon.com's Will Sturgeon reports that far too many London pubs simply aren't sufficiently aware of their own wireless capabilities.

"A silicon.com investigation has unveiled widespread ignorance among the staff of London pubs that are offering Wi-Fi," Sturgeon writes. "Although we found the service is often up and running on their premises, the majority of pubs contacted by silicon.com said they offered no such service."

"In one instance, while compiling our guide to London's Wi-Fi pubs, we were rudely told that they had no such thing and to get off the phone and stop wasting time," he adds. "At others, our question either wasn't understood or was shrugged off with disinterest. At the Lord Moon of the Mall, part of the Wetherspoon's group, our question was met with a chuckling suggestion that the barman had rarely heard such a stupid question in all his years of pulling pints."

This despite the fact that the Lord Moon of the Mall does, in fact, have Wi-Fi.

Katie Hollier of The Cloud says pub owners need to understand the advantages of offering Wi-Fi, if only to compete with coffee shops. "Pubs need to realize they can generate more revenues by appealing to the coffee and muffin brigade," she says. "They need to tell people they can come in, get their laptops out and have a business meeting in the pub."