This qualifies as a question that's almost too obvious to answer:

I have been traveling quite a bit lately and have had to rely on public Internet access. Much to my dismay I have found that most hotels and airports still do not offer free Internet access. Why isn't airport and hotel Internet access a standard free feature?

Umm - maybe because people are willing to pay for it? And seriously - since those of us passing through airports and hotels have no real way to protest the charges, what changes do you expect? Ever noticed the (huge) hospitality tax charged by hotels? The egregious charges for net access will disappear about the same time that does.