| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer hardware Wi-Fi service |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Founder(s) | Martín Varsavsky |
| Headquarters | Madrid, Spain |
| Key people | Martín Varsavsky, Founder & CEO |
| Products | Fonera WiFi Routers |
| Website | Fon |
Fon (Fon Wireless Ltd.) is a company that operates a system of dual access wireless networks. Fon is the largest Wi-Fi network in the world, with over 4[1] million hotspots.
Members are called Foneros and they agree to share a bit of their Wi-Fi signal, so that they can connect to other Foneros’ hotspots.
Consumers who do not share their internet connection can buy Wi-Fi access passes or credit from Fon. Fon members whose hotspots are used to access Wi-Fi by a paying customer can receive part of the revenue.
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Fon Wireless Ltd. is a for-profit company incorporated and registered in the United Kingdom. It was created in Madrid, Spain, by Martín Varsavsky where it headquarters most of its operations. Fon also has subsidiaries and branch offices in the USA, UK, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Its investors include Atomico Ventures, Google, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Skype.[2]
To become a Fon member (Fonero) and join the Fon community, you must own a Fonera router or a router with the Fon software built in. This allows you to share a little of your Wi-Fi at home, and in exchange get the right to use other members’ Fon Spots.
Linus (named for Linus Torvalds, founder of the Linux project): has a Fonera router, shares Wi-Fi and gets free roaming at others’ Fon Spots.
Bill (named for Bill Gates): has a Fonera router, shares Wi-Fi, gets free roaming at any Fon Spot, and can get 50% off the net revenues when a visitor purchases a Fon pass at their Fon Spot (This feature is not currently available in Japan, Russia or the United Kingdom).[3]
Alien: does not have a Fonera router and is not sharing broadband with the rest of the Fon community. Aliens have an active account with Fon, receive community information and access Wi-Fi at Fon Spots by purchasing passes.[4]
A non-member is anyone who connects to a Fon Spot but does not share their Internet access at home or other location. This kind of user may purchase daily access passes to use the Fon network.
Access passes can be bought directly from the access point's portal page; it is also possible to register with Fon from that page. Passes can also be pre-purchased and used at a later date. In Spain, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Portugal, Holland, Belgium and the United States it is also possible to buy passes by sending a text message from a mobile phone.
Users can also get 10 minutes of free Wi-Fi to any Fon Spot by clicking on a Fon promotional video. This is limited to one free 10 minute access per day, per user and device. Users can not disable the free 10 minute access period, for which they are paid $0.08 or 0.05€.
Originally Fon began with a software download for compatible routers, in particular, Linksys routers. This is custom firmware based on OpenWrt.
Fon started using the OpenWRT base as firmware base for Fon branded routers. The firmware has been customised specifically for use in the Fon Community, allowing consumers to share their broadband connection and to connect to other Fon Spots around the world.
Fon developed a number of their own products:
Fon firmware creates two different Wi-Fi signals: one private and one public.[5]
BT Group (formerly known as British Telecom) is the first and largest Fon collaboration. On October 4, 2007, Fon and BT announced that they had jointly created the BT Fon Community by flashing Fon's software on all BT Total Broadband Wi-Fi routers in the UK.[6] This allows BT Total Broadband customers to participate in the FON community without buying a Fonera.
Fon and SFR (Neuf Cegetel) launched Fon on Wi-Fi routers throughout France. SFR subscribers can opt into Fon to share and receive Wi-Fi services.[7]
ZON is the leading cable provider in Portugal. ZON partnered with Fon in 2008 to create ZON@FON, the largest Wi-Fi network in Portugal. Fon technology is built into ZON routers so its subscribers become part of the Fon community automatically.[8]
Fon jointly developed a Wi-Fi Internet access network in Russia with MTS (then Comstar) in 2008. There are now more than 50.000 access points in Moscow.[9]
SoftBank is Fon’s first collaboration with a mobile line operator wanting to offload data traffic to Wi-Fi. Since 2010, SoftBank bundles a Fonera with every iPhone they sell.
Belgacom, Belgium’s biggest telecommunications company, joined the Fon network in November 2011. Belgacom added Fon’s WiFi-sharing technology to its BBox2 modem earlier in 2011, making it possible to broadcast two WiFi signals from a broadband internet source. One signal is encrypted and private. The other signal is public but only accessible via password. Membership is automatically activated (opt-out).