Wi-Fi Zone.

Haven't seen that in a while. The logo, I mean. Not the shirt.

Why not? Wireless access points are popping up in airports, coffee shops, hotels-even parks and gas stations. The purpose of the logo is to assure people with Wi-Fi-certified client hardware that they will be able to connect at a certified access point. So the Wi-Fi Zone logo should become more visible in lockstep with the growth, right?

It's not. I've looked and looked. In multiple states.

You can find the Centrino logo at scads of access points, though. Kind of ironic, when you stop to think about it. Because the pink-and-blue butterfly wings of the Centrino logo are meant to assure people with Centrino notebooks that they'll be able to connect. In other words, maybe 98 percent of the signage out there applies to something like 2 percent of today's unwired population.

That's not how it was supposed to be. When Intel announced plans for the Centrino logo at access points early this year, the microprocessor giant said it would place it alongside the Wi-Fi Zone logo. Company officials told this to the media. They told it to the Wi-Fi Alliance. They told it to me.

And we believed them.

It's not hard to concoct a conspiracy theory here: that Intel is trying to supplant the Wi-Fi Zone logo with its own and, in doing so, scare newcomers into demanding Centrino hardware.

Privately, Wi-Fi Alliance insiders say they believe that this is exactly Intel's intent.

It's easy to point fingers at Intel, long the Darth Vader of computer hardware. But some of the blame must fall into the lap of the alliance. When you stop to think about it, would you put your competitor in charge of branding your work? In essence, that's what the alliance did when it let Intel nail up signs at wireless hotspots.

And away from the Starbucks, the McDonald's, the Marriotts and the airports, I've been to mom-and-pop coffee shops with wireless access. Intel hasn't gotten around to them. But neither has the Wi-Fi Alliance.

There's no wireless access in my son's room. But at least the logo's in there. Under the blanket. In the dark.

Mike Feibus is principal analyst at TechKnowledge Strategies Inc., a market research firm in Scottsdale, Ariz., that focuses on components for mobile systems.

Reach him at mike@techknowledge-group.com.