[MLB-WIRELESS] Your AUP, Internet Sharing and FON

[David Ashburner]

>
> The big news in the wide world of WiFi Blogging is FON.  It is a 
> Spain-based
> company that has just received a large amount of funding from Google.  
> It
> aims to make money through a grassroots network of WRT54G routers 
> flashed
> with the FON firmware.  The idea is that people buy a router flashed 
> with
> FON's firmware that they connect to their internet connection.  The 
> router
> shares the FON member's Internet feed over a mesh network.  Being a FON
> member allows you to use other FON member's Internet feeds.  If you 
> don't
> share your own Internet feed, you can still use other FON-shared 
> Internet
> feeds for a fee.
>
I came across this a few weeks ago, sounded interesting but... The 
concept is simple but they have so much marketing spin  it's difficult 
to
understand what they have actually done - sold routers to people for 
half price on the understanding they will plug them in
to their broadband connection and turn them on.


> I'm now wondering how long it will be before FON makes an attempt at
> launching in Australia.  Like the idea or not, I believe that FON will
> attempt a launch here sooner or later.  If my interpretation is 
> correct, and
> Bigpond and does allow public sharing of it's Internet service, the 
> only
> possible hurdle for something like FON is regulatory.
>
My read on this is if and when they try to open up here the ISP's will 
join ranks and change their AUP to exclude it. Aus is a bit of a telco
backwater that already has more restrictive use & higher prices than 
other markets so why would they open it up?

My work  ISP (USA - Speakeasy) has signed up to allow FON but they have 
already been open for a long time being based in Seattle.

The concept is very neat - I think quite in line with what MW members 
are informally offering each other anyway really.