AMT, in Austin the free wireless the city provides (Zilker Park is included in it, downtown, and also west-central Austin I think) is reliable. My husband used to work from the park quite a bit when we lived there. You guys are making me jealous. I usually only have a couple of hours a day to trade and it has to be done at the house for a few reasons.
Yes Austin is a great "Techie" town with really good internet infrastructure and Wifi all over the place. I am moving next month to a new place out between Bee Caves and Lakeway right near the new Galleria, and even out there I have found WiFi at many of the local businesses. So where did you move to when you left Austin?