Have you heard about Fon? It’s a project (born in Spain) which aims to create a worldwide network of private wireless hotspots. If you join the movement, becoming a “fonero”, you’ll share your WiFi connection in a safe and secure manner and “your” hotspot location will be published on the Fon maps. In exchange, you may connect to any Fon access point around the world without paying for it.

To do so, you’ll need a router (out of a growing list of compatible hardware) that has been configured with FON Software (last time I checked, a customized build of OpenWrt) – what they call a “social router”.

Last February, I had the chance of getting a Fon enabled Linksys WRT54GL for 25 Euro+shipping and taxes (around 45 Euro total). Now, Fon is repeating the stunt and selling them (and then some Buffalo WHRG54S) for 5 Euro (plus shipping and taxes). There’s a catch, though. Now you’re supposed to really register the router, share your internet connection, becoming an active fonero for at least 12 months or you’ll end up paying a whole lot more. Read the license agreement carefully.

Giving away routers. Selling “home” WiFi (nothing prevents me from filtering and limiting bandwidth to “my” customers). I also doubt somebody would use my Fon access point if there are a few more wide open in a 100 meter range. Is Fon a sustainable business case? I doubt it. Nothing left to loose, folks. And it doesn’t hurt to share some bandwidth. You’ll get a fully functional WRT54GL (4 port switch, 802.11g, which can always be flashed with one of the many firmware alternatives available), worth up to 10 times more what you’ll be spending.
What are you waiting for?

Update: came across this article which states they sold a few units for a dollar with free shipping a few weeks ago. What I enjoyed the most was the remark concerning the free vs. paid Wifi:”(…)Those areas are also already flooded with routers from the nation’s largest, free ISP: linksys“