Interesting little article, but if you ask me it lacks any real information about FON. (I picked through and quoted the main points, overall the article says a whole lot of nothing and would also like to know where this information came from.)
http://www.usnews.com/
"AT&T recently announced it would give free WiFi access to many Starbucks customers at the coffee stores. But efforts to blanket whole cities have stumbled as costs and technical challenges overwhelm municipal governments and their partners. A crushing blow came when EarthLink said it was abandoning plans to spread a wireless network across a number of metropolitan areas."
"FON has the backing of Google, Skype, and other investors that envision a free, worldwide wireless network that can compete with cellphone companies and other providers. FON has had greater success overseas, getting 80 percent coverage or better in cities like Tokyo, Berlin, and Leipzig, Germany."
"FON, for example, recently decided to target the Castro district in San Francisco. The effort mirrors one in a predominantly gay neighborhood in Madrid, Rees says. "We've found gay neighborhoods have a strong sense of community and a high adoption of technology.""
"FON execs say they welcome the expanded access to WiFi, although many FON routers in this country were aimed at Starbucks stores. Those routers would typically charge for access at a rate cheaper than what Starbucks offered, with the hotspot owner sharing revenue with FON. Those FON participants who charge for access, sharing revenue with the network, are a minority. Most of the router owners offer free access. FON hopes to eventually make money from advertising on those routers."
"Here, it's been lucky to get the explicit blessing of Time Warner that its cable modem customers could share their access. Sharing broadband is expressly forbidden in many end-user contracts. FON's Rees says no Internet service provider has yet complained about customers sharing access, but FON wants more explicit support from other U.S. broadband companies."
"Communities might encourage a patchwork of smaller networks as efforts falter to build giant, citywide WiFi systems. Rees argues that a patchwork is more sustainable in the long run. But that also suggests a long, laborious process that will keep most WiFi in chains for a while."
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
FON For Dummies
(I'm borrowing the idea for this from El Fon Blog, but he makes a good point on how there seems to be a lack in knowledge and a confusion in terms and I can't quite figure out why. I still think that this is something that needs to be gone over, because even I learned something from this. I intend for this guide to be a one stop information source for everything FON.)
So now I give you: FON For Dummies
FON Community: Group of members registered with FON and with a functioning access point that becomes a FON Hotspot.
Martin Varsavsky: Founder and CEO of FON.
Fonero: A Linus or Bill member of the FON Community.
Linus (es): A registered user of FON that shares bandwidth with the FON Community in exchange for free connection to any FON Hotspot.
Bill(s): Someone who shares their WiFi at home or business andd make money from their WiFi. They get a %50 share of the money that Aliens pay to access the Community through their FON Access Point. Bills also get free WiFi wherever they can find a FON Access Point.
Alien(s): A registered user who does not offer a FON Hotspot and who connects to the FON Community using the Hotspots of Linuses or Bills after purchasing a FON Pass. They pay $3 for a day pass or $10 for a 5 day pass pack to access the FON Community.
Leech: An "unknown" Alien/Registered user who takes advantage of the 15 minute free trial on a regular basis and will never pay for a day pass (but if your like me and have this problem, I blocked them using the FreeWLAN addons, hehehehe...)
FON Hotspot: A WiFi access point available through the FON Community.
FON Social Router: Router distributed and enabled with the FON Software.
FON Pass(es): Ticket that is purchased by an Alien in order to be able to access FON Hotspots.
Fonero Gets Fonero: Invite your friends to become Foneros as well. Now, you can: 1. Get your friends a better offer with La Fonera for only $/€5.99 + La Fontenna for only $/€1.99 (+ $/€5.00 for shipping); 2. Invite more friends – up to 20; 3. Manage your invitations, delete pending invitations and send reminders.
La Fonera : A WiFi router that plugs into your broadband Internet connection, and turns it into a WiFi Access Point. That means you can connect your laptop, handheld game console, or PDA to the Internet without any wires, so you can move around your house freely. Supports the 802.11b and 802.11g standards only.
La Fonera +: La Fonera + comes with an additional ethernet port. Now thanks to the two ports, you can share WiFi and use the router for connecting to your desktop computer. La Fonera + comes with an additional internal antenna specially designed to work with La Fontenna. It gives great indoor coverage while you can use La Fontenna to direct your WiFi signal towards other Foneros.
Both La Fonera And La Fonera+ provide 2 WiFi signals:
1. One encrypted WiFi signal that is only for your own private use (MYPLACE)
2. A second one that requires authentication and is for all other registered Foneros (FON_AP)
Don't want to purchase La Fonera or La Fonera+, you can download the FON firmware for the following routers and turn them into a FON Hotspot:
* Linksys G/GL
* Linksys GSV1-v3
* Linksys GSV4
* Buffalo WZR-RS-G54
* Buffalo WHR-G54S
* Buffalo HP-G54
La Fontenna : La Fontenna is a directional antenna that sends your FON WiFi signal further, boosting the coverage of the FON Community by up to five times and improving your WiFi experience. La Fontenna solves the problem of weak or blocked signals. By adding La Fontenna and directing it outdoors in the direction you want coverage, you'll get the coverage you want, and you'll also be making your FON Spot more accessible to your fellow Foneros nearby.
***Note: If you are a Linus or Bill, you shall check if you are permitted to share bandwidth in accordance with your ISP user agreement as you are solely responsible for compliance with the ISP´s contractual obligations.***
So now I give you: FON For Dummies
About Fon
What's Fon?
FON is the largest WiFi community in the world. FON is a community of people making WiFi universal and free. Our vision is WiFi everywhere made possible by the members of the Community, Foneros. We share some of our home Internet connection and get free access ti the Community's FON Spots worldwide!
SHARE
Our Community WiFi router, La Fonera, allows everyone to share WiFi in a secure environment. It takes only five minutes to hook up, and then you've got WiFi at home and around the world for free!
CONNECT
Foneros connect to thousands of WiFi FON Spots worldwide for free. If you still do not share your WiFi, you can purchase inexpensive access. Find FON Spots on our FON Maps.
Have FON
FON is a Movimiento of people building a free, global WiFi Community, sharing our experiences and ideas. Visit our blogs, boards and enjoy our cool features!
FON Community: Group of members registered with FON and with a functioning access point that becomes a FON Hotspot.
Fonero: A Linus or Bill member of the FON Community.
Linus (es): A registered user of FON that shares bandwidth with the FON Community in exchange for free connection to any FON Hotspot.
Bill(s): Someone who shares their WiFi at home or business andd make money from their WiFi. They get a %50 share of the money that Aliens pay to access the Community through their FON Access Point. Bills also get free WiFi wherever they can find a FON Access Point.
Alien(s): A registered user who does not offer a FON Hotspot and who connects to the FON Community using the Hotspots of Linuses or Bills after purchasing a FON Pass. They pay $3 for a day pass or $10 for a 5 day pass pack to access the FON Community.
Leech: An "unknown" Alien/Registered user who takes advantage of the 15 minute free trial on a regular basis and will never pay for a day pass (but if your like me and have this problem, I blocked them using the FreeWLAN addons, hehehehe...)
FON Hotspot: A WiFi access point available through the FON Community.
FON Social Router: Router distributed and enabled with the FON Software.
FON Pass(es): Ticket that is purchased by an Alien in order to be able to access FON Hotspots.
Fonero Gets Fonero: Invite your friends to become Foneros as well. Now, you can: 1. Get your friends a better offer with La Fonera for only $/€5.99 + La Fontenna for only $/€1.99 (+ $/€5.00 for shipping); 2. Invite more friends – up to 20; 3. Manage your invitations, delete pending invitations and send reminders.
La Fonera : A WiFi router that plugs into your broadband Internet connection, and turns it into a WiFi Access Point. That means you can connect your laptop, handheld game console, or PDA to the Internet without any wires, so you can move around your house freely. Supports the 802.11b and 802.11g standards only.
1. One encrypted WiFi signal that is only for your own private use (MYPLACE)
2. A second one that requires authentication and is for all other registered Foneros (FON_AP)
Don't want to purchase La Fonera or La Fonera+, you can download the FON firmware for the following routers and turn them into a FON Hotspot:
* Linksys G/GL
* Linksys GSV1-v3
* Linksys GSV4
* Buffalo WZR-RS-G54
* Buffalo WHR-G54S
* Buffalo HP-G54
La Fontenna : La Fontenna is a directional antenna that sends your FON WiFi signal further, boosting the coverage of the FON Community by up to five times and improving your WiFi experience. La Fontenna solves the problem of weak or blocked signals. By adding La Fontenna and directing it outdoors in the direction you want coverage, you'll get the coverage you want, and you'll also be making your FON Spot more accessible to your fellow Foneros nearby.
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