FON’s global wireless ambitions: what’s taking so long?
I am a Fonero. I have a FON access point in my house in Amsterdam because I like to share my wireless connection. I have been a Fonero for several years, but when I travel, I don’t see a lot of Foneros around and that’s sad because the idea behind FON is that if I share my connection, I can find other Foneros willing to share theirs. So wherever I go in the world, I can get free Wi-Fi service. That’s the idea. And it’s a great idea but . . . I found out from a number of people who got FON access points that they did not even bother to set them up. Why?
In this New York Times article, which focuses primarily on Martin Varsavsky, FON’s founder, it says: “At the moment, there are just 830,000 registered Foneros around the world, and only 340,000 active Wi-Fi hotspots run FON software. Because it’s built upon the concept of sharing Wi-Fi access, FON works well only if there are Foneros everywhere.” Exactly. So why aren’t people installing them?
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Certainly, there is a percentage of routers getting repurposed with 3rd party firmware. Some firmware distributions are made solely for the Atheros/Accton routers used by Fon and Meraki. Now, there are more options — open-mesh.com among others.
Why aren’t people using them? Because no one savvy enough to set up one of these wants strangers on their network ON PURPOSE! Also, as long as the world’s largest free WISP (linksys) exists, no end users will use them.
Some people might not like the idea of having to rely on someone else’s system for authentication but rather have full control over their hotspot. So, they either reflash their FON or use other technologies. I am a avid user of open-mesh.com myself.
The biggest thing that would prevent me from ever sharing my home cable modem via a FON hotspot is that you’re opening yourself up to a great deal of legal risk. If someone does something bad on your FON hotspot, who do you think the authorities are going to come after?
Thirding the legal liability argument. Also, a lot of ISPs don’t look fondly upon you letting random people off the street use your connection.
fon is an alternative to everything.
1) people who just have an open ap like Bruce Schneier? no logging? no disclaimer? so if he ever get’s misused?
2) open-mesh… nice but how can I plan my holiday and know there is wifi there that I’m allowed to use?
also not yet wispr compliant for my nokia phone
Here in the U.S. you will violate the terms of service of most consumer ISPs if you set up La Fonera. Fon’s own TOS requires you to promise that you are not violating your ISP’s TOS. And Fon makes it impossible to turn off the public connection to the AP unless you hack the device. These kinds of hangups limit the usefulness of Fon. It needs to make more deals with ISPs for the concept to be practical.
what is the difference between open mesh and fon?