Moreover, the prices for 802.11 chips and gear have been dropping almost as fast as the number of public hot spots has been rising. Sky Dayton, chief executive at Boingo Wireless -- a start-up trying to establish the underpinnings of an 802.11 roaming service -- who participated in a panel discussion at the conference, predicted that the average price of the chips would drop by half to $8 this year, $4 next year and as little as $2 in 2006.