Anyone order 400,000 foneras?

Fon got an order for 400,000 Fonera WiFi routers in January


"While we still can’t disclose from who Fon got an order for 400K Foneras I can say that it is a mobile operator. Mobile operators are realizing that Fon is their amigo. That for them it’s great when customers who paid their monthly 3G fees offload their traffic on to a WiFi network. More to follow."

LINK

Fon launches the PeekFon

reserve yours now: http://www.fon.com/en/promos/peek

The PeekFon will be 99 euros to buy, a reasonable price especially considering that the price includes both the gadget and 6 months of all you can eat email service anywhere in Europe. No roaming charges. No contract.

After that we will charge euro 12.90 per month for the service but as opposed to other email machines out there, there is no cancellation penalty of any kind if the user does not want to continue with the service.

This is a complementary service to Fon WiFi but it is not a WiFi product. It is a GPRS product. The idea is that with Fon you share a little wifi at home and roam for free but the PeekFon addresses those moments in which you can’t find WiFi in spite of Fon´s over 800,000 hotspots now available in Europe. With the PeekFon you get the most important piece of messaging, your email, anytime.

Browsing, Twitter, and other functionalities will be added within months but for now buyers have to think of the PeekFon as an email machine with a full keyboard.

Why is Fon launching the PeekFon?

Because in Europe we pay huge roaming charges when we leave our own countries. As a German you can come to France and easily pay in a day what the Peek will cost in a month.

Because many people still prefer a phone that looks like a phone for phone calls and sms and an email machine for email and don’t mind carrying two devices that do their jobs well.

Because even if you never leave your country Blackberry services, iPhone and Android services in Europe cost around 50 euros a month and have minimum 2 year stays and include no talking minutes. So in Europe even if you stay at home you spend 1200 euros to get email and if you travel around Europe you spend double that on the average. This would compare with 312 euros with PeekFon vs 2400 euros if you roam and 1200 euros if you don’t. So there are enormous savings for getting email.

Having said all this Fon recognizes that “apples to apples” a Blackberry, an iPhone, an Android is a better product than a Peek and if you have the extra money to sign 1200 euros contracts and spend a few thousand more for roaming the Peek can’t compete with the complete iPhone, Blackberry, Android experience. But as a pure and simple email machine the Peek can and its price is just reasonable.

We also recommend Americans and Asians and other non Europeans coming to Europe to get a PeekFon as roaming charges by US operators are a killer over here so much so that the iPhone for example comes with a feature to disable roaming.

The PeekFon will be available at Fon.com December 15th. It will be available for shipping to all European countries for which shipping is now provided for the Fonera. If we see demand from USA and Asia we will also have it available at our US and Asian shops to be activated when landing anywhere in Europe.

GPRS service for the PeekFon will be provided by the new Pan European MVNO for gadgets Spotnik. Fon will be Spotnik’s first customer.

Thank you Wired for your “Good Enough” article. It helps me explain why in the era of “my smartphone is smarter than yours” we are launching the PeekFON – unarguably the simplest smartphone around and no rival in terms of apps to the iPhone, Android or Blackberry. The PeekFON is about simplicity. A PeekFon is “good enough”. The PeekFON does one thing very well, email with a full keyboard. And email is what most people need at work. So the PeekFON is a working tool. It is geared towards companies who want to give employees connectivity on the road. The way I see it, if an iPhone is Facebook, a PeekFON aims to be Twitter. Simple, to the point, with limitations, but “good enough”. 23 euros for the device, no roaming anywhere in the EU, no contracts, and a flat 12,90 per month with the first half year prepaid. So you pay 99 euros for the device and 6 months of prepaid service when you order. After that, you only pay for the months you use it. If you want to reserve one click here.

WiFi Gadgets: Cradlepoint CTR-350 Black Cellular Travel Router

EASY TO USE

The CTR350 Mobile Broadband Travel Router is a full-featured wireless 802.11b/g router developed to be a plug ‘n’ play solution. Simply connect an activated USB modem, plug in the CTR350 and turn the unit on. Within seconds you will have a secure WiFi network for up to 16 WiFi enabled devices.


PORTABLE AND POWERFUL

About the size of a deck of cards (the smallest router in its class), the CTR350 can go with you anywhere. Enjoy the convenience of taking WiFi with you - never search for a hotspot, pay high daily access fees, or risk a non-secure connection again.


SECURE AND RELIABLE

This high-performance router platform, powered by WiPipe™ technology, supports multiple and concurrent VPN pass-through sessions, plus encryption modes including 64/128-bit WEP, WPA and WPA2. Additionally, built-in auto-failover keeps everyone online switching from wired to wireless broadband access in the event of a wired ISP failure.



MSRP $99.99
This product requires a 3rd party data modem and active data plan for full functionality.

http://www.cradlepoint.com

Discounted Fonera 2.0n

I just got a discount promo code for a fonera 2.0n in my email. Fonero's check your email, I'm going to order one.

Borders Signs Agreement with Verizon to Offer Free Wi-Fi

should have seen this coming since Barnes and Noble starting offering it.

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) today announced that it has signed an agreement with Verizon to provide free Wi-Fi service in virtually all of its more than 500 Borders stores nationwide. Borders and Verizon are well underway in the process of equipping stores to offer free Wi-Fi, with service expected to be available by mid-October.

"Re-engaging with customers as a serious bookseller is one of our strategic priorities," said Borders Group Chief Executive Officer Ron Marshall. "By offering free Wi-Fi, we are extending the open atmosphere of exploration that is at the core of every great bookstore experience and furthering the sense of community we have always fostered at Borders."

Verizon's platform will allow Borders to create a splash page that customers first experience when they log on to the free Wi-Fi service, giving Borders the opportunity to feature compelling content such as news of hot titles, special discounts and the opportunity to join Borders Rewards(®), the retailer's free customer loyalty program that has 34 million members. Among other benefits, Borders Rewards members earn $5 in "Borders Bucks" for every $150 of annual qualifying purchases made both in store and at Borders.com.

This agreement builds on an existing relationship between Borders and Verizon that encompasses a number of advanced communications and IT services, including wide area networking and voice-over-IP services, Internet connectivity and e-commerce operations support.

Borders.com

WiFi Gadgets: Verizon Mifi

Cool gadget out there (a replacement for the Fonera 2.0 and a 3G card)

"The Mifi is a tiny, battery powered EVDO modem which sits in your pocket and turns the incoming 3G radio waves into a small Wi-Fi network, enabling you to hook up your laptop, iPod Touch or anything else with a Wi-Fi radio. This last is pretty exciting on its own as it effectively turns an iPod Touch into an iPhone without a phone.

The difference with the Mifi is that it is so tiny and, according to the New York Times’ David Pogue, ridiculously easy to use. It’ll run for 40 hours in standby, much like a cellphone, and when you hit the single switch on the side it springs (or rather, stirs) into life, firing up a little 30 foot bubble of Wi-Fi around you. Once on, the battery will give five hours of surfing but can be plugged into the power as it goes to re-juice the batteries.

Of course, its a cellular modem, so you have some rather low data caps. The $40-a-month plan limits you to just 250MB (yes, megabytes) and jumping to $60 gives the industry-standard 5GB. You can share the connection with up to five devices, so if you’re generous with the neighnors on the Muni, for example, you could burn through that pretty quick.

Gripes aside, this looks to be an amazing device, freeing you from a specific connection for all of your internet-abled gadgets and just covering your personal space with a personal connection. I wonder if this will end up in Europe anytime soon — we have, apparently, excellent 3G coverage."

Via Wired - "Verizon Mifi: Personal Wi-Fi Coming this Month"

A legal Battle for Fon

I know this is a couple months old, but it shows how a company like Fon cant survive out there without partnerships with other companies like BT, Zon, and more. The legal battle in Germany shows how dangerous sharing your internet connection with the world really is. Any one who logs onto your fon spot is free to do whatever they want to, and you have no way of knowing who is doing it.

To make a long story short this is what happened (From the Fon Boards)

"The defendant makes the claim for unfair competition by focusing on their business model to the free sharing of DSL Internet access service, which the applicant their customers against a fee calculated differently recognizable available. Instead of using their own technical and organizational services at wholesale by a third party in order to develop the market, they use one of the applicant under different conditions created infrastructure "parasitic" to deal with its own offer on the commercial market. "

"We lost a lawsuit against a small operator who does not want its customers (to be) Foneros, but we are negotiating with them to (make them) realize that, like many other operators have realized, that Fon is a good business for them."

"FON lost the first trial on 11.11.2008 -> they did not communicate
FON lost the Second trial on 05.06.2009 -> they did not communicate
"The decision is provisionally enforceable"

FON has to pay € 200,000 due to the Security issues this causes,
25.000,00 € due to not giving a list of Foneros which are customer at 1&1 when the ISP asked for it;
due to the Second lost trial it seems these amounts are now set at 110% ...

FON (defendant) is convicted for the 2nd time, for each breach it has to pay upto 250,000 € - or imprisonment for up to six months"

Read more at:
Fon Boards - "German court decision: FON as "parasitic" WLAN sharing?"
El Fon Blog - "Foneros Panic as Major Legal Loss for Fon Surfaces"