What is Digg?45 Comments
- shagginwagon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13If you want to check out the actual company site, its http://en.fon.com/
- blahbbs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Isn't sharing your bandwidth normally a breach of your terms of service with the ISP? I'm not sure how they can do this legally.
- t3hX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Depends on your ISP. Read the FAQ.
- richardiscool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Anyone else finding themselves hunching their shoulders to fit in this narrow little comment section?
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7You ordered a router for a buck and you're warning people they might be losing their money...
Do you have any idea of how many orders they must have gotten at a buck for them? They probably just ran out and are STILL trying to notify people.
At $5, this thing's still a steal. I'd be willing to pick one up just for fallover with my current router (which I already use for serving WiFi to my neighbors). - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"In exchange for receiving a $5 box, users must agree to share their wireless connections with other FON users for 12 months, the company said."
"Save more than 80%. Offer valid until all products have been sold. VAT and shipment costs are not included. A surcharge of %u20AC/$ 45 willll be applied to all routers that are not registered with FON within 30 days of their purchase). We will notify you 15 days in advance of the said surcharge."
"emember that you must register your router and keep it on at all times. This great low price helps us build the FON Community. Therefore, we will apply a $/%u20AC 45 surcharge on all routers that have not been registered within 30 days of having made the purchase. Once you have registered your router, you must keep it running and available for all other FONEROS. We are not making any money off of the sale of these routers. So all we are asking is that you use the router as a FONERO."
"The FON router that you reserve through this Special Offer will only function properly when used within the parameters of the FON Community. For that reason, we require you register the router with us upon receiving the product."
http://en.fon.com/shop-us/product_info.php?products_id=28
If you can't heavily filter out all P2P traffic you are putting yourself at major risk. Claiming to be a home ISP doesn't hold up if you get sued. Doesn't sound worth it for a $25 router. - apurocks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6FON had a $1 giveaway a while ago and i ordered a router and nothing came, i am still waiting its been over a month now. please be careful before you do this.
- griz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5One or 2 extra computers in a home is not going to hurt their revenue stream. And Actually, you are paying for it now. Internet costs, at least on the cable internet side, continue to climb.
Hooking up 3 or 4 neighbors, can hurt them a lot.
Why do you think the internet providers fear the municipally wired WiFi city? - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It also used to be a violation to have more than one PC hooked up to your internet connection without paying for the extra PC's connection. But the ISPs had to change with the times, and sooner or later they will here too.
- wired4u, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You can get this router for $5.00 and then reflash it since it is just a standard linksys router with a custom firmware.
- thebman990, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4And it doesn't matter how bloated or inefficient the two choices I have for broadband are. Crawl along on Cable, or crawl along with DSL from my phone company, which may not be a choice because I have no idea where the closest switching station is. But Adelphia still has a cable monopoly in my area. And Fios is still 100 miles away from me. If my town put up free wifi/wimax/etc, I would jump at it. Cuz anything is better than 30KBytes/sec.
- MrMysterious, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3FYI, I bought mine from them awhile ago, and I have received it.
- joraff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3For any of you thinking about buying one of the routers and flashing it to put the powerful DD-WRT firmware on it, you're in luck.
DD-WRT is apparently funded by FON, and either of these two routers already comes with DD-WRT loaded on it (it's actually a customized version based on the DD-WRT, but it was developed by Sebastian Gottschall, the same person who develops for DD-WRT). - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"If you can't heavily filter out all P2P traffic you are putting yourself at major risk. Claiming to be a home ISP doesn't hold up if you get sued. Doesn't sound worth it for a $25 router."
Simple solution: throw the WiFi access point infront of a router (preferably a cheap Linux box, anything 486+ should do fine) and traffic shape the connection to hell and back. There are plenty of tutorials about it online (Google it), and you might just find out it makes your web browsing at home more comfortable (QoS has certainly made my home surfing more enjoyable, restricted video game traffic seriously speeds up web browsing). - PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I did this a month or so ago... with shipping, $12.
I'll keep it online for a year, then reflash. I'm happy to have done it. - geoffp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@otherland
You'll notice that the U.S. Postal Service still has its place, and yet UPS, FedEx and DHL still manage to struggle along. I'm in favor of more competition, no matter who wants in. Even if it's my big, scary, lumbering, bloated, overlord, big-brother-esque local city government. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1stemp@ look at the link in my previous post....
- snifer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think the goal of this project is not to use it as your main internet connection, but to never loose connectivity. If you're at home, use your own ISP. If you're not at home, and you need internet, you can always have (you won't get a great connection, but you'll have something).
- snifer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As part of the beta promotion, WifiTastic Hotspot (using the Linksys WRT54G router) is available directly from WifiTastic for free*. The BETA program is expected to last through July 2006.
*After owners generate $250 in total sales, WifiTastic will, in addition to the commission already paid, send an additional $80 to cover the cost of the hotspot.
All customers who buy a hotspot, or who register a hotspot during the beta programme automatically qualify for the offer. - brhad56, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I agree, that I don't want people beyond my control running rampart with my ISP account. Because any illegal activity they may be involved in will resolve to my name. Parent, however, says that you can remove the custom firmware and put standard back in. Essentially giving you a $5 router, but breaking the FON terms of service. Either way, this program isn't for me.
- henkk78, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you're interested in sharing your internet, rather use a system where you can set your own price and have full control, such as Sputnik. Also check out managed solutions such as Firstspot, 2Hotspot and Skyrove.com.
I think Fon asks to much and gives too little, that's why they need to give away practically free routers. - Stemp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Otherland, can you tell me where to find a Linksys WRT54GL or a Buffalo WHRG54S for $25 or even 25€ ?
- bugzer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What's to stop someone from buying this router, registering it within 30 days, and immediately just taking it off and reflashing it with other firmware (DD-WRT) and using it for their own purposes?
- chris86wm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I ordered a router from fon about a month ago when they had them for $1. Many, including me, have yet to receive there orders. I have faith that it will eventually come, but if you get one be prepared to wait a while for it.
- whiterajah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This would be cool if you could put pretty strict limits on bandwidth for guest users of your system, e.g. only up to one-third of your total bandwidth can be shared at any one time, and after a certain MAC address has consumed more than a couple of gigs of traffic, access is restricted to basic http / pop usage at a limited speed.
There's a suggestion on FON's site that this kind of thing will be possible in the future: "With the upcoming versions of FON software which will be available for download from our website you can choose the bandwidth you want to share yourself."
Other issues I don't really see addressed on the site are the potential for visitors to run packet sniffers on your network or otherwise snoop, or the legal implications of someone engaging in illegal activity while logged on to your router (although they do mention that usage is logged by username and password).
One other thing: how does the company that's providing the routers hope to make money out of this?
Still, very interesting concept. In a dense wi-fi environment like New York city, this could have amazing possibilities. - allister, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The low price is certainly a fantastic sweetener to the deal but it essentially gives FON control over your network, rather than the control in the hands of the person sharing it. $1.50 in return for someone sitting on my net connection all day is not my idea of a passive income stream! Also, users have to pay that $3 at each hotspot they visit. Kinda adds up, doesnt it!
- Blogfeeder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Interesting. I've been using Wifitastic for a little while now. I already had a Linksys router, which is compatible with a free firmware update. The differnce is that instead of sharing free Internet, Wifitastic makes your connection a commercial hotspot allowing you to make money from your connection. I think you can get a free router from them during their beta program too.
- Blogfeeder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sorry...forgot the URL. http://www.wifitastic.com
- Charlotte_Web, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5So, for $5 ( +$8 S&H) I, too, can have anonymous hackers on my home network? And my neighbor can use my internet connection as a spam relay, pushing out 10 million emails an hour over my pipe?
Where do I sign up?!?!?!?!?!?!!!
:-P - samsite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Hmm, I can see it being a very good idea in paper. You%u2019re always going to get the people that take advantage though and sap the life blood out your internet connection. There must be issues about security as well though, if you%u2019re running a home network though this? The only way, In fact, I don%u2019t see it being any use to me at all. Were i need a net connection I%u2019m lucky if I can get a phone signal
- iKevin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0So do they charge you more if you decide to quit after one month? Or you just need to return the router to them?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"If my town put up free wifi/wimax/etc, I would jump at it. "
The amount of bloat and inefficiency does matter. You rather push the total cost of such a crappy government run network on the entire tax payer base. The real cost is much greater than what any company could spend and still get customers. Once the government enters the market it stifles progress and innovation because companies simply can't compete. - thehacker123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0very good deal. Id buy any day
- ultrasoul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Urm, got mine from FON for $1 a few weeks ago. Trick is to wait to they drop it from $5 to $1
- myriad360, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0griz:
"One or 2 extra computers in a home is not going to hurt their revenue stream. And Actually, you are paying for it now. Internet costs, at least on the cable internet side, continue to climb.
Hooking up 3 or 4 neighbors, can hurt them a lot.
Why do you think the internet providers fear the municipally wired WiFi city?"
Agreed: this will drive up costs. Maybe that need to happen a little. However, I think if you buy bandwidth, you should be entitled to use it all. Who cares who is using it? ISP's just need to up their prices a little. That is fair.
I think it is also a good thing to retaliate against the anti-Municipal Wi-Fi thing that is going around. If bit discrimination and extensive unprotected ISP logs start happening, then people need to start organizing inpedendent ISPs too.
One more thing; I suppose you can limit users' bandwidth on these things, right? So random people don't max you connection out? You can help your ISP this way if you like. - rmda812, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I payed with a virtual card number with a 13 dollar limit to cover the router and the shipping, lets see them charge me another 40 bucks when i don't share...
- gnomex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I got my fon router today for $5 + mail by UPS. I ordered it 9 days ago. I Installed the router by the window and registered as a Bill. In 5 hours got 2 clients paying $1.5 each for a period of 24 hours, I think they came from the pub downstairs. It's strange because where I live almost everybody in the building has a 10MBs LAN connection, and I can see at least 13 wifi access points on-line all the time. Some with WEP protection and some totally open for free. Can you give me any tips on how I can make my signal stronger with some kind of external antenna. Some 300m from my apartment there is a square full with pubs and restaurants I would love to reach.
- killa62, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Digg this down, it's not 5 dollars
its 5 dollars + 8 dollar shipping = 13 dollars in the states - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2good on 'em, the ISPs need a good shaking-down, for once.
- sl33stak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I live in a small town in the Midwest, but we do have Cable at least, I already have an old .11b network here but so do 5 other people in a one block radius ( I set those up), I figure WHY NOT? for $13 bucks shipped? I jumped on it, besides, I know my neighboors, and hackers they are not!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3"Why do you think the internet providers fear the municipally wired WiFi city?"
Because with this example of socialism it doesn't matter how bloated and inefficient the city run system is, it can lose money big time and still "compete" against the private companies. It really cripples the free market. - henkk78, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I'm not impressed with the way FON talks about how "good" it is to be a 'Linus' and asking you to share for free, while at the same time charging your neighbours $5 a day! I think that's blatant abuse of Linus Torvalds' name.
- Stemp, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Otherland, can you tell me where to find a Linksys WRT54GL or a Buffalo WHRG54S for $25 or even 25€ ?
- ngageguy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1@Charlotte Web
I totally agree. no digg. - hurtle24, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1O/T
commenting on Digg 3 !!!!
seems pretty cool, looking forward to those nice visualizations that are coming soon
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