Starting Tuesday, nearly 90 percent of the public areas in the airport will be covered by the new wireless local area network.
Comprised of switches and access points from Aruba Wireless Networks Inc., the $70,000 WLAN installation is using an existing computer network to hold down costs.
The 15th busiest in the world, McCarran will be the largest airport to offer the service at no cost to travelers.
A number of wireless hot-spot providers offer Wi-Fi at airports. Wayport Inc. and T-Mobile U.S.A. Inc. offer customers at those airports payment options ranging from $6 to $10 for a single connection to $30 to $50 per month, depending on the contract agreement.