Comments on: FONing a WiFi Revolution

By: Background briefing on FON « Not Really a Blog

Background briefing on FON « Not Really a Blog — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:45:07 +0000

[...] that remain unanswered and there are a variety of opinions on what this company is trying to do. Some argue that the world tends to make free wireless access while others see this as a challenging…. Comments [...]

By: Removing the Middleman, part 1 « Mobile Opportunity: Mobile applications

Removing the Middleman, part 1 « Mobile Opportunity: Mobile applications — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:33:39 +0000

[...] control over the broadband pipes in many countries including United States.” –Om Malik of Business 2.0 (Silly me, I thought it was terrorism or maybe global [...]

By: ex Fonero - disguised

ex Fonero - disguised — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:47:37 +0000

it seems, that FON idea obviously sucks in every country they appear. with UMTS , affordable 4 everybody, FON idea is no longer worth anything. There is no development in FON. FON is an appendix of British Telecom and generates numbers only. have a look @ http://maps.francofon.fr and you will be able 2 verify everything told you here. – Also OM does no longer seem 2 be a close friend of Martin. No PR – no ads :)

By: iPhone is Boosting Demand For Location-Based Services

iPhone is Boosting Demand For Location-Based Services — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:01:27 +0000

[...] early days, Skyhook was more like FON, but since then it has changed its focus and developed a technology that uses Wi-Fi, GPS and cell [...]

By: Not really a blog » Blog Archive » background briefing on FON

Not really a blog » Blog Archive » background briefing on FON — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 10:19:44 +0000

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 14:15:07 +0000

I agree with Glenn about the hype being created around this idea. I love the concept but a lot of operational issues need to be sorted out. I did a firmware flash today – it took forever and was not a simple process. Downloading the update is one thing but getting a hotspot going is another! Not something I would go to great lengths to do to share my Internet for free! On that note, check out this post about Wibiki – http://www.yeahfi.com

By: Radiuz

Radiuz — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 21:35:14 +0000

If you think this is an interesting idea, check out http://radiuz.net – a cooperative Wi-Fi network that has been operational for about 2 years now. No installation of router firmware required.

By: Invisible Yet Necessary » Fon WiFi gets support from Google and Skype to build a (sort of) wireless freenet

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 21:34:03 +0000

[...] As I am doing research on the interaction design issues with wireless networking, I have been particularly interested in seeing how the story with Fon will evolve. I first reported on Fon in October before they launched and I have seen that the movement was gaining some momentum even before being officially launched. but then, I figured out that the solution they were offering was not that novel — Robert Cringely reports on a micro franchisee business model that looks pretty similar — . Experts in the field of wireless and broadband were questioning it too (see Om Malik, Glenn Fleishman). [...]

By: links for 2006-02-06 at HawkEye

links for 2006-02-06 at HawkEye — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 19:19:26 +0000

[...] Om Malik on Broadband : » FONing a WiFi Revolution in the simplest terms is “Skype+Boingo+Open Source” but only in a WiFi context. Here is how it works. You go and download the software from the website, and update your WiFi router’s software. (Only works for routers that use linux for now). The sof (tags: FON Wi-Fi Wireless Broadband Internet Skype Google OpenSource) [...]

By: Social Patterns

Social Patterns — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 19:00:35 +0000

FON, Google, Skype and Why It Matters

Yesterday, FON announced that Google, Skype, Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures will be backing them with 18 million Euros.
FON is company that has one purpose - wifi for everyone. Basically you download some software, install it into your router, an...

By: MobileCrunch » Google, Skype, Sequoia and Index Fund FON: MobileCrunch Wonders Why

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 14:43:10 +0000

[...] (and neither, apparently does TechDirt’s Glenn Fleishman who thinks it won’t work, while Om Malik isn’t so sure himself). Tags: FON, Venture-Capital, investment, WiFi, broadband, cingular, sprint, verizon, Sequoia, Categories: Uncategorized, Google Mobile, Announcements, Analysis | Bookmark this post with del.icio.us [...]

By: oliver starr

oliver starr — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 10:27:32 +0000

It quite surprises me that Sequoia, Skype, Index and Google would back a company that at the core of it’s business model encourages the users to implicitly violate the terms of service of every single connectivity provider with the possible exception of Speakeasy.

read your terms of service and you’ll see that reselling the service is a violation as is allowing anyone outside of the premises to connect to it.

While this may be a good idea in theory, I have a problem with any company that basically encourages an unlawful act as part of a business model…

Oliver Starr http://mobilecrunch.com

By: Om Malik on Broadband : » Google, Skype Fund FON

Om Malik on Broadband : » Google, Skype Fund FON — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 21:07:23 +0000

[...] FON a wireless services company started by European entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky has just raised $21.7 million from Google, Skype, and Sequoia Capital. The cash infusion has been led by Index Ventures, the same company that had also backed Skype. [...]

By: gerhard

gerhard — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 17:05:39 +0000

http://del.icio.us/foneros

there you will find a lot of stuff, concerning fon.com (blogs, articles, links).

have fun

By: Martin Varsavsky

Martin Varsavsky — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 22:30:59 +0000

There have been so many failed attempt at building local wifi networks that I know we probably sound crazy saying that we will build a global wifi network. But I did invent call back and together with some other callbackeros we brought down the global oligopoly of long distance phone calls in the 90s. Now it´s time to show the global mobile oligopoly that we can do the same, hopefully with your help and have a unified and free global wifi roaming. If anyone has questions do write to me at martin@fon.com or to my fonero buddie Ejovi Nuwere at ejovi@fon.com, he´s in NYC. BTW if you are wondering how we are going to do this here´s the strategy, we will blog the hell out of the idea (check out http://www.technorati.com “fon varsavsky” in all languages and see that working) we will make deal with many community web sites to have us on their home page and we will have all our geolocalizers with them (check out our maps), we will make a deal with one internet giant (google, yahoo, microsoft or ebay/skype), we will make deals with hardware manufacturers like netgear or linksys to sell their routers FON READY, we will make deals with ISP so they sell their services FON ready and get out of their price wars by offering something of tremendous value, free wifi roaming at no cost to them, lastly we will enjoy the WIFI DELUGE of PSP, Nintendo, Digital Cameras, WIFIFONS all coming out in 2006. Watch us evolve at http://www.martinvarsavsky.net or http://www.fon.com blogs in different languages. FON is being built at the right time. Hey, we´ve been up for only a week and you are reading about us!

By: Jaakko Kuosmanen

Jaakko Kuosmanen — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 16:29:44 +0000

Hi There is a similar Wi-Fi community started in Finland. It is called SparkNet and it has some 1.000 hot spots connected already. See https://open.sparknet.fi and http://www.sparknet.fi & http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/05/30/wifi_coops_wireless_community_networks.htm