Another unscientific WiFi node count

This blog entry records results from a node count in a taxi, starting at 72nd and driving up Amsterdam Avenue:

Between there and 120th Street, I picked up 180 WiFi nodes; only 48 of them (27%) were WEP-protected. Of course, there’s no telling how many of them were willing to dole out an address to me, nor how many of them had filters preventing random computers from connecting, but that’s still damn impressive, and way more access points than I would have thought I’d see.

I think the basic fact w/ regard to WiFi counts is, no one really knows.

About 6 months ago, I e-mailed the heads of Wi Fi user groups, asking them how many Wi Fi nodes there were in their area. The universal response was, "We have no idea. Whatever the number is, it's growing."