Hot spots?

I have a wireless-enabled laptop. I rarely use the facility. The pricing structure of wireless hotspots is not acceptable. They are cheap to set up and run – yet they want to charge (what seems to me like) astronomical amounts of money for short-term connections. I suspect that most providers of such services are not making money – and the technology is likely to overtake them before they do. If only, they would be a little more realistic about the charges they set … they might generate some heat around what are very cool spots currently.