Possible free Wi-Fi - Fonera? Anyone know?

**kkandmk** · 07-21-2010, 03:17 PM

Hello all! Long time lurker, first time poster. A big thanks to the entire forum for all the wisdom I've gained here. You guys rock!

I ran a search and couldn't find any threads; begging your pardon if it's already been discussed somewhere:

Anyone heard of Fon/Fonera?

fon(dot)com/en/info/whatsFon (Would love to link you but I guess I have to make 15 posts first.)

I found it on Clark Howard's page of bargains. It seems to be a way to get free Wi-Fi after just the initial investment in the special router is made. But..... I'm just not clear. I find the information given there to be confusing and was wondering if any of you guys are familiar with this or maybe even making use of it? Any light anyone can shed on it would be much appreciated.

I don't want to miss out on a way to accomplish something as valuable as free internet access, but at the same time it's setting off my 'if it seems too good to be true' alarm.

**lparker** · 07-21-2010, 06:10 PM

If it's free, it's because you would be stealing someone else's signal, unless you live near a free hot-spot. Other than that you need your own broadband account.

**Inkstain82** · 07-21-2010, 06:25 PM

It seems to work like this:

You already have to have a broadband internet connection that you are paying for through another company. You buy their router and use it to create a wireless hotspot with your pre-existing internet connection. Any Fon user can use your internet if they are physically near it, and you can use any other Fon user's internet hotspot if you are physically near it.

**Gabe** · 07-21-2010, 07:23 PM

Not free....

**luis** · 07-22-2010, 11:21 AM

Hi kkandmk,

My name is Luis, I work for FON and would like to explain you the concept of FON so that you have a full understanding.

FON is not an Internet (ISP) provider. We do not charge service per month or at all. The FON router (Fonera) connects to your current Internet (ISP/Broadband) provider when you plug the cable into its port. In order to have a Fonera operational you will need a spare Ethernet port on your current cable or router.

The router uses that existing connection and then sends out a public and private signal. The public is open to anyone in the public (who is a registered FON user). This is one you would use to connect to when you are traveling and find a FONspot (FON hotspot). The private is strictly for you, your family, and friends that live in your residence since it is encrypted.

Once you plug a Fonera router in and register it to your account, you will become either a "Bill" or "Linus" which means that you will be able to roam the world and connect to any FONspot for free. However, you must have a Fonera router that is active and running to get this.

If you believe you will have lots of activity with the public access point, then I recommend you become a "Bill" user. This means you make half the profit in day passes purchased at your router. This does not change your privileges, so you do not need to worry about losing your free roaming rights or anything else. The more people that connect means the more money. It is not a lot but some people have been extremely successful. Some Foneros (customers with FON routers) make enough money to pay for their monthly service and more.

**AnW819** · 07-22-2010, 11:11 PM

Wow, how did this guy find the thread?? LOL! ^

**Gabe** · 07-22-2010, 11:34 PM

I would check the terms of service with your Internet Service Provider.
I'm sure they have a clause that you cannot resell your connectivity to others.

Here is more information about the company and the service.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FON"]FON - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:FON_Logo.svg" class="image">

Luis,

Since you work for the company could you provide agreements that your company has with specific ISP in the USA? This would be helpful.

Thanks,

**Gabe** · 07-22-2010, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by kkandmk

Hello all! Long time lurker, first time poster. A big thanks to the entire forum for all the wisdom I've gained here. You guys rock!

I ran a search and couldn't find any threads; begging your pardon if it's already been discussed somewhere:

Anyone heard of Fon/Fonera?

fon(dot)com/en/info/whatsFon (Would love to link you but I guess I have to make 15 posts first.)

I found it on Clark Howard's page of bargains. It seems to be a way to get free Wi-Fi after just the initial investment in the special router is made. But..... I'm just not clear. I find the information given there to be confusing and was wondering if any of you guys are familiar with this or maybe even making use of it? Any light anyone can shed on it would be much appreciated.

I don't want to miss out on a way to accomplish something as valuable as free internet access, but at the same time it's setting off my 'if it seems too good to be true' alarm.

Hi Please post an introduction in our general forum!

I like listening to Clark too when I'm in the car.

**Libby** · 07-23-2010, 01:30 AM

Originally Posted by AnW819

Wow, how did this guy find the thread?? LOL! ^

I know eh?

Ironically a day after the original post, a representative from that exact same company mentioned, miraculously finds the question in this thread on the village then registers to answer it?! (I know he could've done a search but still...seems a bit much to me)

What are the odds? And not only that - this 'internet' seems to sound like a pyramid scheme.

**AnW819** · 07-23-2010, 05:22 AM

Originally Posted by Libby

I know eh?

Ironically a day after the original post, a representative from that exact same company mentioned, miraculously finds the question in this thread on the village then registers to answer it?! (I know he could've done a search but still...seems a bit much to me)

What are the odds? And not only that - this 'internet' seems to sound like a pyramid scheme.

My thoughts exactly

**Gabe** · 07-23-2010, 09:16 AM

We have around 20-30 google spiders consistently at all times. When we post on the blog it gets indexed within an hour by google on the forum it is a bit slower but typically it is within the day...

Give it a try. When you write a post today...

Search it up on google.
It is called SEO optimization..

I'm willing to give Luis/Fonera a chance to answer my question. We need to have more market facing brands to answer customer questions.

Let's see what happens.

**luis** · 07-23-2010, 12:30 PM

Hi Gabe, to be honest I'm more familiar with our operations in Europe (I'm based in Madrid). Here we have several agreements with ISP's including BT (UK), ZON (Portugal), Neuf (France), etc.

In my (personal) opinion more and more ISP's are seeing FON as an ally that can help them reduce churn improving their customer's user experience. After all FON allows their subscribers to enjoy broadband while out and about for the same price.

By the way your guess (SEO optimization) was quite accurate

**kkandmk** · 07-27-2010, 06:45 AM

Big thank yous to everyone for helping clarify this for me. It definitely isn't any kind of deal I'm looking for -boo.

My apologies for not getting back here a little quicker. We caught a computer virus last week (ugh) and were down for the count for days.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone a bit more in the future