Be Friendly, Share Your Internet, Get Cheap Router

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://en.fon.com/info/whats_fon.php' target='_blank'>http://en.fon.com/info/whats_fon.php</a><br /><br /></div><i>"BBC News is running a story about the Spanish firm Fon, selling subsidized Linksys WRT54GL Wi-Fi routers for $5, in exchange for the buyer agreeing to a 12 month contract of providing access to other Fon users within range. With the financial backing of Google and Skype, their goal is to create Wi-Fi networks, street by street, across Europe and the US. Buyers of the subsidized routers can classify themselves as 'Linuses', whereby they also get free access to all other Fon hotspots, or 'Bills', where they receive 50% of the revenue made by on-selling their Wi-Fi to other Fon users. 'Alien' users can buy 24-hour passes for 3 Euro."</i><br /><br />An interesting way to get a cheap router, provided that you don't mind sharing. I personally think this is great, provided that no one tapped into my connection and decided to do something less than legal. Now designing a system that could prevent misuse like that while still allowing you to share your connection with other decent human beings... that would be brilliant!

[Paul Martin]

I've been reading about this over at Fatwallet. The challenge, at least in the US, is that this kind of sharing can violate your TOS. Some don't mind at all, others like Comcast, do. So, tread lightly.

[Airscanner]

http://www.publicip.net/

FYI...the Zone CD is free, and will let you share your wifi while keeping secure.

[freitasm]

For most ISPs FON will violate the TOS, as said. And it is something that was well discussed earlier this year when the first release came up (Slashdot is well known for publishing duplicate stories - sometimes even on the same day, but quite frequently on the course of months).

One of the first things discussed was that this is not a good business model - for the people sharing.

Discussions about this are from early January 2006:

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/columns/article.php/3581076
http://gigaom.com/2006/02/05/google-skype-fund-fon/

But these two are the best ones and explain why FON is another for fee hotspot where only a few would really benefit: http://wifinetnews.com/archives/006270.html
http://muniwireless.com/applications/1033

[Perry Reed]

I started the process of buying the router, but stopped when I discovered that the $5 price was in addition to $8 for shipping. I know that it's still pretty cheap, but I hate it when companies offer a low price on something and then jack it up with "hidden" shipping fees.

So, on principle, I decided not to place the order.