* Another business model for muni/metro Wi-Fi rears its head
Ever hear of FON?
It’s a worldwide company, founded in Spain. Late last month, it passed out free Wi-Fi routers in downtown San Francisco during an event it dubbed “Freedom Friday.” Such a deal: They usually charge a whopping 5 bucks for the devices! A “freedom” day in New York is next up for later this year.
FON represents just the latest twist in grass-roots efforts to distribute free or low-cost Internet access to the masses to see what creative and interesting activities might result. The idea is that home users with wireless routers share their broadband Internet access connections with others.
There are three categories of users. The biggest category consists of “Linuses” (presumably a tribute to open source icon Linus Torvalds). Linuses share the Wi-Fi connection they have at home with so-called “Foneros” (other Wi-Fi users who are part of the FON community). In return, they get free Wi-Fi access wherever they find a FON access point around the world.
Another category of users is called “Aliens.” These folks use a FON router but haven’t been persuaded to share their Wi-Fi connection (yet). They get charged 3 bucks a day to use the FON community’s grass-roots Wi-Fi network.
Finally, users called “Bills” want to make money from sharing their Wi-Fi connections. So, instead of free roaming, they get 50% share of the fees that Aliens pay to access the FON community.
FON’s wireless routers, called La Fonera, use separate Service Set Identifiers for the home user and the outside folks sharing the Internet connection to keep indoor connections secure.
The issues abound, of course, from skewing current city/metro/county Wi-Fi business models to creating irate ISPs. More on these next time.
