It's a rare business survey that doesn't show burgeoning growth in some facet of the Las Vegas economy.

Yet a study released on Tuesday by Intel Corp., a major chip and computer maker based in Santa Clara, Calif., revealed that Las Vegas barely stood its ground in the middle of a list ranking the best American cities for wireless Internet access.

Las Vegas slipped from No. 41 to No. 42 on Intel's Most Unwired Cities survey, which ranks 100 markets nationwide on wireless Internet connectivity. Sperling's Best Places, a Portland, Ore.-based research and consulting firm, conducted the study using Internet directories and talking to wireless providers to compile details on each city's number of wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, connection points, called hotspots.

Bert Sperling, president of Sperling's Best Places, said the city's lost ground is "negligible" and not a cause for concern.

"Las Vegas has many more hotspots this year than it had last year," Sperling said. "The city has experienced explosive growth in hotspots, but so has the rest of the country. Hotspots in other markets have basically grown about as much as Las Vegas has, which is why Las Vegas is in roughly the same spot."

Las Vegas grew from 69 hotspots, or 4 per 100,000 people, last year to this year's 175 hotspots, or 9.8 per 100,000 residents, the study reported.

No. 1 Seattle grew from 286 hotspots, or 8.9 per 100,000 people, to 797 access points, or 24.7 per 100,000 people. The Austin, Texas, metro area, which has about 300,000 fewer residents than the Las Vegas market, ranked No. 3 this year, with 291 hotspots, or 21.1 per 100,000 residents. That's up from 148 access points, or 11 per 100,000, a year ago.

Las Vegas ranked ahead of Orlando, Fla., Philadelphia and Phoenix, but behind Raleigh, N.C., Albuquerque, N.M., and Sacramento, Calif.

Sperling attributed Las Vegas' overall rank to "the type of city it is."

"On the Strip, it's unlikely the hotels will offer Wi-Fi because people are in town to do other things besides check their e-mail," he said.

Jonathan Snyder, chief executive officer of Las Vegas broadband provider KeyOn Communications, said the city's economy is an important factor in its relatively low wireless status.

"We are not a technology-driven community," Snyder said. "I think that lack of high-tech industry in the community is a primary factor.

"Also, a lot of times, salespeople drive the use of hotspots, technology and mobile applications. Sales forces tend to be early adopters. But salespeople can still cover Las Vegas in one drive. In Los Angeles, it takes hours to get around town, so if you have appointments and you need to check your e-mail, you need that mobile access."

A check with two online Wi-Fi directories, wififreespot.com and wi-fihotspotsdirectory.com, found Southern Nevada access points at several Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf locations, the Panera Bread restaurant near the Galleria at Sunset mall and numerous Buffalo Wild Wings eateries.

In addition, Southern Nevada's public libraries, McCarran International Airport and the Las Vegas Convention Center feature wireless hotspots. A handful of hotels offer access, including the Four Seasons, the Stardust and the Cannery. Station Casinos offers hotspots in all its hotel rooms and convention centers. The Apple store and Starbucks, both at Fashion Show on the Strip, also have wireless Internet access.

Nick Davis, a spokesman for Seattle-based Starbucks, said the company continues to roll out Wi-Fi access at its company-operated stores.

Of the 50 company-operated Starbucks locations in Las Vegas, 32 have Wi-Fi hotspots, Davis said. The city's 50 licensee-operated stores, mostly in grocery stores and casinos, don't offer hotspots.

Davis said the coffee peddler launched its high-speed wireless capabilities in August 2002 because "offering Wi-Fi was a great way to meet customers' needs and enhance the overall Starbucks coffee house experience for all customers."

That strategy is paying off: Davis said 70 percent of Starbucks' customers are in-store for five minutes. Among customers connected to the Internet via the company's hotspots, however, the average time spent in-store is about an hour, Davis said.

Snyder said offering hotspots is a good business booster for virtually any operation.

"It's an inexpensive service that causes people to stay in a location longer than they normally would," he said.

Sperling said such experiences will be commonplace soon.

"At the end of the race, everyone will have Wi-Fi coverage, just like everyone has cell-phone coverage now," Sperling said. "In the beginning, cell phones were used mostly by business people, they were awkward to use and people were always wondering where they could find good spots for coverage. That's where Wi-Fi is right now. But within two to three years, Wi-Fi will be as prevalent as cell phones are today."