| FON | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | Private |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Founder | Martin Varsavsky |
| Headquarters |  Madrid, Spain |
| Key people | Martin Varsavsky, Founder & CEO |
| Industry | Computer hardware Wi-Fi Network |
| Products | La Fonera WiFi Router |
| Slogan | WiFi for everyone |
| Website | Fon |
FON (FON Wireless Ltd.) is a company that runs a system of shared wireless networks. It began in November 2005.[1] FON’s members or “Foneros” are consumers who agree to share their WiFi with others, in return can freely access all other FON wireless access points. The company sells low-cost access to non-community members. FON’s La Fonera routers have been designed to enable Foneros to share their home WiFi access in a secure manner. La Fonera routers split the WiFi signal, creating a secure private channel to broadband internet for the user and a separate channel to share with fellow Foneros.
Contents |
FON
FON (“FON Wireless Limited”) is a company incorporated and registered in the United Kingdom. FON, officially launched in February 2006. FON was created in Madrid, Spain by Martin Varsavsky where it headquarters most of its operations. FON also has subsidiaries and branch offices in the U.S.A, Spain, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. FON's investors include Google, Skype, Index Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.[2] In February 2006, FON announced that it had received $22 million in equity financing from Internet giants Google, Skype and from the venture capital firms Index Venture and Sequoia Capital. In its first year of business, FON said that it was the world’s largest WiFi community, surpassing T-Mobile in Germany, and with a substantial global presence. In March 2007, FON announced an additional $13 million in equity financing from new investors and current investors. Among the new investors disclosed, were the Japanese companies BB Excite, Digital Garage, and Tsukumo. On October 4, 2007, it was announced that British Telecom had also joined its roster of shareholders.[3] FON is a business, but not a non-profit venture, even though one of its principal goals is to make the Internet affordable, ubiquitous, and accessible to all. For the time being, FON’s business model is based on the money that is generated from Aliens purchasing FON passes to access the Internet from FON’s user-generated Community. FON sells its WiFi products online. It often has special deals for active Foneros and promotional offers for new members.
Communities
The FON Community
Joining the FON Community is free. In order to gain access to the FON Community, users must first register as a “Foneros” (FON’s term for active members of its Community). FON offers many community services besides simple WiFi technology. For example, Foneros can personalize their FON Spots and advertise their local businesses or personal websites, and communicate with other Foneros and non members who connect via their FON Spots. Foneros also have access to a User Zone where they can follow everything that happens through their FON Spot.
BT FON Community
On October 4, 2007, FON and British Telecom announced that they had jointly created the BT FON Community by flashing FON's software on all BT Total Broadband Wi-Fi routers in the U.K. [4] This new Wi-Fi community invites 3 million of BT Total Broadband customers to opt into the FON Service, share their Wi-Fi at home and roam all of the BT FON hotspots in the UK and the FON Spots everywhere else in the world. Foneros also have free access to all of the BT FON hotspots in the U.K. This announcement came days after FON and Neuf Cegetel launched the Neuf WiFi FON service whereby 600,000 Neuf WiFi boxes throughout France were flashed with FON software. Like BT FON, Neuf subscribers can also opt into FON to share and receive WiFi services.[5]
FON Cities
FON is also collaborating with various cities, municipalities, and communities to build citizen generated WiFi access. Such initiatives include (but are not limited to) the City of Malaga (Spain), the Ajuntament de Lleida (Spain) and Blanquefort (France).
Foneros
Foneros come in three varieties: Linuses, Bills and Aliens. Linuses and Bills are registered FON users who share bandwidth with other Foneros, whereas Aliens are registered FON users who do not share bandwidth but may access the FON Community by purchasing daily access passes (FON Passes). By installing the La Fonera WiFi Router, both Linuses and Bills share their WiFi and in return get easy WiFi at home and free WiFi roaming to all of the FON Spots throughout the FON Community. Using laptop computers or WiFi-enabled gadgets (telephones, cameras, game consoles, etc), Foneros are permitted to access any FON Spot around the world. Originally only Linuses were permitted to roam all of the FON Spots for free. As of June 2007, now Bills also receive free roaming privileges.[6] Unlike a Linus, though, a Bill receives money from FON when Aliens purchase FON Passes that FON sells on the Bill’s FON Spot. Thus, Bills receive a bit of money from the sale of FON Passes and also get free roaming. Any Linus can become a Bill by simply changing her profile in the FON User Zone and registering with PayPal.
Non Member access to FON Spots
A non member or “Alien” is anyone who connects to a FON Spot but does not share WiFi at home. Thus, using their laptop computers or other WiFi gadgets, Aliens can access any FON Spot by purchasing daily FON Passes. FON Passes are similar to pre-paid cards. Aliens pre-purchase these Passes and then use them to connect to the Internet freely. Aliens can purchase one Pass or purchase multiple Passes that can be used at a later date. Aliens can purchase FON Passes when their laptops or other WiFi gadgets detect a FON signal. After connecting, they are then transported to a FON sign-in page. If it the first time the Alien has ever purchased or used a FON Pass, then she/he must first register with FON. If she/he is already a registered Alien, then all she/he needs to do is enter her FON username and password. In Spain, Aliens can purchase FON Passes by sending an SMS through their mobile phones. Aliens can also get 15 minutes of free WiFi to any FON Spot by clicking on a FON promotional video. This is limited to one free 15 minute access per day, per user and device. Foneros can not disable the free 15 minute access period, for which they are paid $0.07. When a Bill has accumulated $30 in sales, the payment is sent to their PayPal account. That amounts to 429 free 15 minute access periods. Once an Alien has registered with FON, they can use their FON username and password to access their own personal User Zone. In the User Zone, the Alien can retrace her WiFi activities through the FON Community. Including seeing how many FON Passes they have purchased, used and how many they still have remaining.
Products
Originally FON began with a software download for compatible routers, in particular, Linksys routers. FON called these routers post the installation of FON’s software, “FON Social Routers”. This is custom firmwares based on OpenWrt. Fon started using the OpenWRT base as firmware base for Fon branded routers. The firmware has been customisied specifically for use in the FON Community, allowing Foneros to share their broadband connection and to connect to other FON Spots around the world. La Fonera firmware solves security problems by creating a private and a public network on the router. [7] The La Fonera protects the user’s connection with two separate type of SSID's.
- Private: one SSID is encrypted only for the user’s private use. Only users who use this can access the internal network, computers and files.
- Public: a second one that requires web based Fon authentication and is for all other registered Foneros. With this only registered Foneros can access the FON Community, but cannot access the router owner’s private network. Only Foneros have passwords that connect to this signal. [8] The firmware and the routers are designed to download updates and configurations from the La Fonera website.
La Fonera WiFi Router
The FON router is called La Fonera, and is available for purchase online at the FON Shop. In simple terms, a WiFi router is a hardware device that when connected to a broadband connection emits a signal that can be picked up by WiFi enabled personal computers, laptops, and other gadgets (telephones, MP3 players, digital cameras, and game consoles). This permits Internet users to access the Internet without the need for cables to connect their devices directly to the broadband line. As a result, the WiFi router is in reality an Internet “access point”. The La Fonera router is designed and manufactured by Accton. It comes flashed with the custom FON firmware, which employs security measures to prevent any unauthorized firmware modification. The router includes one WAN Port and a wireless antenna. It does not provide a method to connect a PC to the router. It can be connected to an existing network router or directly to a cable or DSL modem.
La Fonera+
La Fonera+ has all of the La Fonera’s security and community features, but also incorporates new technology. The router's four coloured LEDs show Foneros the status of all of the router’s activities: whether it’s online, whether it is connected, or whether it is sharing WiFi with other Foneros. The La Fonera+ also comes with an additional Ethernet port. Thus it can be used for connecting to a desktop computer, creating a virtual network through the private FON signal (MyPlace) and share all of the user's information across them. Finally, the La Fonera+ comes with an additional internal antenna specially designed to work with the La Fontenna. It gives indoor coverage while the La Fontenna directs the WiFi signal towards other Foneros. Like the La Fonera which preceded it, the La Fonera+ has issues connecting to many Intel-based cards and indeed Cisco Aironet cards. Adjustment of power-saving may occasionally have an affect.
La Fontenna
The La Fontenna is a directional antenna that boosts the WiFi signal of the La Fonera WiFi router by up to five times.
Alternative Firmwares
Many Alternative firmwares have emerged for the La Fonera. Some such as; DD-WRT, and OpenWrt remove the public Service set identifier (SSID) fon_ap and are an entirely new firmware. Others such as FrancoFON and FREEWLAN leave the public Service set identifier fon_ap intact as well as offer additional features such as client bridge mode, Aircrack-ng, Kismet and support for other programs to be installed on the JFFS2 file system via a Package management system. [9] [10]
FON Maps
FON Maps, based on Google maps, allow Foneros and others to easily locate FON Spots. FON Maps help make finding information about FON spots around the world easier, and offer detailed information and often personalised information about it. Maps offer Aliens and Foneros real time information about FON Spot activity, coverage and location around the world. Users can also download the FON Maps for their GPS system.
FON Labs
FON Labs is an initiative created by FON that currently offers beta applications and tools to simplify Internet use. FON Labs is located in Barcelona, Spain.
- FON Get Simple converts long, impossible-to-remember URLs into short, easy-to-remember web-based bookmarks.
- FON Uploader addresses one of the biggest drawbacks to Gmail. Gmail starts from scratch offering no way to import old emails to your new Gmail account. FON Uploader solves this problem by allowing users to import their old emails to their Gmail account.
- FON Wit is a new tool that FON Labs is developing to allow users to chat and perform word searches at the same time. FON Wit is a Skype add on that will perform word searches when users pass the cursor over an unknown term that appears in the conversation.
- FON SPOT for Mac and Linux is a software download that converts a Mac or Linux PC into a FON Spot allowing users to share WiFi with the FON Community wherever they take their PC.
- GSPACE is independent of FON Labs, but is a FON friendly site and application that provides free online storage to access files. Gspace turns the 5GB of a user’s Gmail account into free online storage.
FON and ISPs
FON has also signed various agreements with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) around the world to actively promote the FON Service to their subscribers. Some of these ISPs include British Telecom (BT), Time Warner Cable, Neuf Cegetel, Interoute and Interlink. [11] Because not all ISPs allow their subscribers to share their broadband connections, FON requires its Foneros, prior to joining FON, to read their ISPs’ terms of use to make sure they are in fact allowed to share their connection. [12] To date, no ISP has publicly announced that they will actively penalise their subscribers who participate in the FON Community.
References
- ^ "'Hotspots of the world unite' says Fon: Fon aims to become global community of people sharing each other's Wi-Fi hotspots", InfoWorld, December 1, 2005
- ^ FON - "Our Investor Partners"
- ^ Antony Savvas (October 4, 2007). "BT and FON aim for largest online Wi-Fi community". Computerworld.
- ^ "BT and FON launch the world's largest Wi-Fi community". BTFON (October 4, 2007).
- ^ Kirstin Ridley (October 4, 2007). "BT links up with FON for 'people's' Wi-Fi network". Reuters.
- ^ FON - "Make Money with your WiFi"
- ^ "FON is safe" - FON Security Page
- ^ Review of La Fonera in Wi-Fi Planet
- ^ FrancoFON
- ^ FREEWLAN
- ^ FON Friends
- ^ Terms of Use of FON
