Wednesday, January 23, 2008

the one where FON is... Everywhere!


"WiFi FOR EVERYONE"

You share a bit of your WiFi with other Foneros...
...And Foneros around the world will give WiFi back to you

Do you know what FON is?
FON is the largest WiFi community in the world.

How does it work?
1. Sign up at their site to become a Fonero.
2. Get a La Fonera and setup a FON Spot.

- La Fonera is the FON Router which enables you to securely share you WiFi connection by using two WiFi signals, a private signal and a public signal.

- FON Spot is the term they use for their Wifi hotspot.
3. Register your La Fonera using your account at their site and start sharing you WiFi connection.
4. You now have WiFi at home and you can now also access any FON Spot around the world for free!
* I think 1 and 2 can be interchangeable.

3 types of Foneros:
1. Alien
- a Fonero that is not yet sharing his WiFi connection
- can connect to any FON Spot by purchasing a FON Access Pass
2. Linus
- a Fonero that is sharing his WiFi connection
- can connect to any FON Spot around the world for free!
3. Bill
- a Fonero that is sharing his WiFi connection
- can connect to any FON Spot around the world for free!
- can make money sharing his WiFi connection through his FON Spot!

I'm still an Alien because I don't have a La Fonera yet. I don't know any FON retailers here in the Philippines. Is there any La Fonera retailers here? If you live in the Philippines and you're a Linus or a Bill, where did you bought your La Fonera?

Well, if I can't find any retailers here, I think I'll buy one online at the U.S. FON Shop. There are also FON Shops located here in Asia buy I'm afraid to buy it from there because the packaging may not be in english and I don't know how to read chinese or japanese, hehe! I'm just planning to buy it from the U.S. FON Shop because I'm sure that the packaging of their products are in english :D

I hope FON expand their services here in Asia particularly here in the Philippines. I think they can coordinate with PLDT, BayanTel, Globe, or Smart like when they coordinated with British Telecom and created the BT FON Community. I know we're a third world country and there are other issues that have to be prioritized other than being connected to the internet anywhere you go in the country but I think this would still be great for our country. It can spread like text messaging, 3G, DSL and other services that were offered by our local telecommunication communication companies. If this eventually comes true, I think charging the Filipinos who are just Aliens and not Linuses or Bills yet for a $3 or 120Php-150Php one day FON Access Pass is too much. FON must make it cheaper for us Filipinos and they should also make a way for us buy it offline like in the form or prepaid cards or something else. Anyway, do you think the business model of FON will be accepted here in the Philippines? Is it legal for PLDT MyDSL, Bayan DSL, Globe Broadband, and SmartBro subscribers to share their internet connection?

I haven't really tried their service because I'm still an Alien and not a Linus or Bill yet.
Regardless if I become a Linus or a Bill, I don't travel around the world and there are I think 5 or 6 FON Spots here in Quezon City and Manila combined according to FON Maps so it will be difficult for me to find a FON Spot because 5-6 WiFi hotspots will not cover Metro Manila. I don't why but I'm so happy about FON and its concept and idea for having WiFi everywhere even if I haven't tried it. I just have so many ideas right now on how I can use it, hahaha! :D

Note:
This is not a paid review. I just happen to like FON and make a post about it :D

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey i have la fonera which i got from HK but ive never used it. i was thinking of using here in qc but i checked the fon map but there seems to be only one person in Qc using it.