Free La Foneras (Wireless Routers) From Fon
FON, the community WiFi-sharing startup, is giving away wireless routers to new members (Foneros). The routers are very small and portable -- perfect for travelers. Out of the box it supports broadcasting two SSIDs: a protected one for your home and a public one for your fellow Foneros.
As I explained in my first Radar post about FON:
Most members (aka Foneros) "share their wireless Internet access at home and, in return, enjoy free WiFi wherever they find another Fonero’s Access Point", these are known as Linuses. Aliens do not share their WiFi and are charged for using the FON network. Bills do not take advantage of the free roaming WiFi and instead get a cut of the fees that Aliens pay to use their WiFi. This could subsidize the cost of your WiFi if your business or home is in a heavily trafficked part of town.
Since you can throttle how much you share there's not much to lose with trying it out. Plus the utility of joining seems to be growing. There were no FON members in my neighborhood this past fall, now I count five on their map. I've had my Fonera unplugged for while as I never saw anyone using it; I think that I'll go change that now.
[Via BoingBoing]
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Comments: 9
It appears this only works by invite. Can anyone offer me one - I'd be interested to give it a go. Thanks in advance. bandyroos@gmail.com
I could see the appeal if I owned a business like a coffee shop or bookstore, but I really don't want my house listed on a map as a place to get free/cheap wifi.
I don't see any free routers on their site. Just the one for $29.95. That is a good deal if you know there are people around you with one, but not so much until they build a decent network...
WiFi PCs, PDAs and especially phones operating this way will be the future. There will be so many that the network will quickly come into being.
Why isn't this functionality already a part of my Laptop's wireless connection?
It appears this works for people with existing accounts or perhaps as someone said earlier, by invitation.
I think I'd be interested in setting up a node in South London or Brussels. Can someone invite me?
Hi!
I put up an order for one (and got a free one!) a few days ago. So there will soon be another one in Capital Hill :)
Cheers,
-Brian
Keep in mind that this is a violation of your EULA if you're a Comcast Cable subscriber in the US, and possibly other systems as well. Don't be dumb.
See http://www.comcast.net/terms/subscriber.jsp
which says (in part):
Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Service is for personal and non-commercial use only and you agree not to use the Service for operation as an Internet service provider, a server site for ftp, telnet, rlogin, e-mail hosting, "web hosting" or other similar applications, for any business enterprise, or as an end-point on a non-Comcast local area network or wide area network.
The official free router program has ended, but http://www.fon.com/en/promos/fonbucks lets you still get a free FON router if you live near a coffeehouse.
73s and best regards,
K7AAY PDX OR USA
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