Thanks for the crit on our project with Tales of Things Terence. I'm Head of Digital at National Museums Scotland and also a frequent reader of your blog (in fact I linked to your site from a post I wrote only yesterday: http://bit.ly/gkeBY1 ). I'd say your comments are completely fair, and we take 'em on the chin! We know there are various imperfections with the process and see this as a pilot project in terms of use of QR codes in the museum. Tales of Things is a partnership between five different academic institutions and the tools were developed some time ago. Mobile web would definitely be the ideal solution but the existing toolset does OK in supporting the research it's designed for, and on a positive note there's been a really good surge of UGC submitted this week.
It's worth noting that our website visitor stats (not a like-for-like comparison I know) currently have incredibly low uptake for any non-iPhone/Android users and research we did last year found users of non-iPhone devices were far less likely to engage with 'physical stuff' in the museums. That said, I would expect to see this shift as smartphone usage and behaviours evolve.
WiFi is a big, tricky issue, and as most of the culture sector looks to harness interaction & engagement and take advantage of what mobile/digital offers, having the infrastructure to support it is increasingly vital. But that's not easy when when budgets across the sector are being cut and - as you point out - many of our buildings don't make connectivity easy!
QRpedia looks like an excellent project, and it’s funny that there’s suddenly so much QR+museum love around all of sudden.
Keep up the great work.