Fon

''This article is about sharing Wi-Fi Internet Access. For other uses see Fon (disambiguation).

FON Logo

FON Technology S.L. is a company of British law, registered in Spain. Owners of broadband internet connections and compatible WiFi routers (currently Linksys WRT54G/GS/GL versions 1x to 4x, though FON claims more are to be supported in the near future [link]) can participate in the FON network by installing FON's firmware on their routers. They will be called foneros and foneras.

Any mobile computer equipment within the range of the foneros' router then has instant internet access via FON. In return, the participant gets:

to use all other participants' internet connections for free when in their range (the "Linus" option), or
50% of the fee paid by the mobile user (the "Bill" option).

mobile users are so called "Aliens".

Based in Spain and led by Martin Varsavsky (founder of Jazztel), FON first presented itself at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, held between January 24-26, 2006 in the United States. At present, the software is still in Beta phase.

FON has received potential financial support by Google, eBay and Skype, Index Ventures.

Participating in the FON network might sometimes conflict with the terms of use of some ISP's; but FON has made an agreement with some ISPs to allow DSL-sharing.

Martin Varsavsky aims to "build a global standard for sharing WiFi" ([link]).

ISPs that allow FON service (by country)

Australia
* [Bigpond (with disclaimer)]
Belgium
* [Belnet]
* [Coditel]
* [Cybernet]
* [EDPnet]
France
* [Neuf Cegetel]
Germany ("Linus" option)
*[Arcor]
*[AOL]
*BetaPower
*[freenet.de] (and [meome.de])
*[Getacom]
*M-net, NEFkom and AugustaKom ([Maxi DSL])
*Portunity
*[S&P data]
*[T-Online]
*[Versatel]
Netherlands
* [Tele2]
New Zealand
* [Orcon]
* [Worldnet]
Spain
* [Jazztel]
Sweden
* [Glocalnet.se]
* [Labs2.com]
* UPC
Switzerland
* [Interway Communication GmbH]
United Kingdom
* [Phone Co-Op]
* [bulldog] (Linus only)
* [be] (Linus only)
United States of America
* Speakeasy
* AceDSL (NYC)
* [bway.net (NYC)]

ISPs that do NOT allow FON service (by country)

Belgium
* [LaTribu]

United Kingdom
* [Virgin]

United States of America
* Comcast
* AT&T DSL

External links

[FON website]
[Video conversation] with Fon founder Martin Varsavsky
Fansites
*[English fansite]
*[German fansite]
*[Dutch fansite]
*[another English fansite]

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