Time Warner, Fon in Wi-Fi in Deal

[engine]

In a big win for a little Wi-Fi start-up called Fon, Time Warner Cable Inc. will let its residential broadband customers turn their connections into public wireless hot spots, a practice shunned by most U.S. Internet service providers.

For Fon, which has forged similar agreements with Internet service providers across Europe, the deal will boost its credibility with U.S. consumers.

Time Warner, Fon in Wi-Fi in Deal [latimes.com]

Would you make your WiFi a hotspot?

[edited by: engine at 7:42 am (utc) on April 24, 2007]

[webquest]

Let me be the first...

NO!

[walkman]

nice. So sicko threatens the President or dloads child pron, who's house will be raided at 4 am?

[rogerd]

I've spent time adding layers of security to my WiFi just to be sure nobody can access it, either to use my bandwidth or gain access to my network. Why would I want to open my connection to sharing?

There have been reports of some ISPs, notably Comcast, shutting down users who used too much bandwidth on their "unlimited" connection. I wonder if Time Warner is implicitly saying they will never impose such limits, either overtly or covertly.

[marcel]

I've already ordered my FON router, should get it sometime this week :)

[BillyS]

>>Would you make your WiFi a hotspot?

Those of us that understand why we need to keep our connections private will continue to do so. To me, this concept is crazy.

Those that don't know what can happen will find out by reading the horror stories in the newspaper or by experiencing it first hand.

[lexipixel]

La Fonera: FON’s new tiny wireless router, and the easiest way to join the FON Community and make your connection wireless. It provides great security with two wireless networks: a FON social channel and your own private channel. Go social and enjoy WiFi everywhere for free, or make money from others accessing your Access Point.

-FON

I can see it now, kids setup a lemonade stand with a sign that reads:
Park Here! Ice Cold Lemonade $3.50/glass!
15 Minutes FREE Wifi & Parking with every order!

:)

[matimer]

So sicko threatens the President or dloads child pron, who's house will be raided at 4 am?

Talk about extreme fear mongering

[monkeythumpa]

I have a FON router. You can throttle the bandwidth you allocate to it and it does not have access to my network, It is in between the modem and my router. As a Fonera, I have access to other people's for free. Oh yeah, the router was free and you can make money on it if you are in a high traffic area. Alas, no one has paid to use it but it is a lot better than turning off my security when I host meetings at my house.

[walkman]

>> Talk about extreme fear mongering

Yeah. Strangers are just so nice and you can trust them. Plus, stuff like that never happens.

[matimer]

Wouldn't it alleviate many of people's fears about privacy rights, if everyone connected through the same connection?

[walkman]

>> Wouldn't it alleviate many of people's fears about privacy rights, if everyone connected through the same connection?

I think you're missing the point. Through who's connection? Not mine, that's for sure.

[vincevincevince]

I have absolutely no problem with this. If the FON was shipped free then I'd add it to my network quite happily. On the other hand, I'm not going to shell out just to let people who happen to be passing by using my internet connection.

[Angelis]

If people are going to pay me to sit outside my house and use my web connection (as long as it is encrypted) then I have no problem with it. I am only in the house 9 hours a day.

[rohitj]

The only way the internet is going to accomodate global wi-fi is if the internet is more conducive of annonymous connections. right now there are too many security risks imposed from an anonymous user to make it viable.

[pretender]

sure, if that router accommodate some payment interface and I can set the price at cost plus 50% per mb :) bandwidth is too expensive in South Africa to give it away for nothing!