FON Boards

I've been sent a discount code to get the Fonera 2.0n at a discounted price in the UK.
So I have a few question which will help me decide if it's worth buying.

to be honest almost none of the standard software features it offers like uploading to Picasa, or downloading Torrents, etc are of any interest to myself - it just seems like an extra layer of hassle to go through rather then using my PC do do those kind of things. I've never for instance taken photos and uploaded them to Picasa without first looking at each photo - rotating then when needed, removing red eye, etc I would never simply upload photos without checking them on a PC first.

On the hardware side of things a lot of things I'd have like to have seen are missing from the device.

First of all there is no inbuilt DSL / ADSL modem - most ISP's including my own (O2 Broadband) already give me a free all in one ADSL 2 modem and router box with 4 Ethernet ports and WiFi. It would have been nice to have seen an in built modem to save on wiring, extra configuration and save some electricity as well from not having to run two different devices.

And to be honest the one thing that would have really swung it for me - having PSTN VOIP (Voice Over IP Ports) on the back to allow me to plug in a real telephone or Fax machine aren't there.

I've heard you can use the USB port for data storage, Web Cam and even to serve a printer - however since there is only a single port on the device does it support the use of a USB Hub to have more then one of those devices working at the same time? I'd have like to have seen 3 or 4 USB ports on the back.

It also looks as if the box won't allow me to plug in an external directional Antenna?

On the hardware side of things the Fonera 2.0n doesn't seem to offer me anything I didn't already get for free from my ISP except that single USB slot (which would have been much nicer on the back)


What would really be of interest to myself is if the box could hand IP blocking for every single person connected to the box in the same way PeerGuardian and now the newer PeerBlock work?

Does this box offer anything above what most standard Wifi Routers offer to help protect myself and the people on my home network from Spyware, Viruses, IP Trackers, etc?

It would certainly be nice to have a hardware firewall that protects my entire network. And it would be nice to have an IP blocker that you could update with a list of bad IP Addresses you want blocked.

I hear the processor in the Fonera 2.0n is very powerful, much more powerful then most WiFi Routers - so is any of this possible ?

The only reason I can think to buy this device is if it offered features to protect my network from all the bad things out there on the internet which my current box cannot do.

-La Fonera 2.x both support powered USB hubs.
-It would be difficult to include a modem, because there would need to be a version for DSL and a version for Cable. Most modem/router combos are provided by the respective ISP because they are custom designed for the ISP and also contain custom firmware. Fon would need to expend considerable resources to aquire firmwares and perform testing for even the most common of combinations. Fon would also need to find modem manufacturers who are wholesaleing devices that would be compatible with some edition of Fon's firmwares (Fon rebadges discontinued hardware).
-All La Foneras *except* the n model permit the antenna to be replaced.
-La Fonera n has a cpu which is comparable with other cpus on the market today. It's not particularly a powerhouse. Perhaps you are reading wrongly into complaints about Fon's earlier models which are too underpowered to perform basic tasks? In reality, the n model is simply the first Fonera with adequate power.
-Peerguardian is an excellent idea, but to save resources perhaps Fon could install static entries in their DNS server (which Fonera users are automatically configured to use instead of their ISP's) to blacklist dangerous destinations... OR you can subscribe to OpenDNS and reconfigure your router to use it instead, for a similar effect.

Is there any way to swap and get a discount code for the smaller white Fonera2.0g instead?

http://xipcode.com/index.php/products/fon-2-0g/

Are they still being sold?

The older Fonera2.0g seems like a much nicer looking device to me and the ports are all on one side so less messy to wire then the Fonera2.0n

As hard as I try I just can't see the point of the Fonera2.0n and to be honest I think it's pretty ugly looking device, the original Fonera were so elegant looking in white and you could certainly nail it very high up on a wall for good signal and not have it look tacky.

With this new design all I see it an ugly looking box with messy cabling (because the USB port is at the front). You'd have to put a USB cable in the front and bring it backwards towards a USB 2.0 powered Hub to use all the features.

It's pretty rare to get a standard alone Ethernet only one port ADSL Modem these days so I can't ever see the 4 Ethernet Ports onthe back of the Fonera 2.0n being used when I have 4 Ethernet Ports already on my O2 ADSL Modem . 4 port Wifi Router. I'd much rather have seen the space at the back devote to maybe 2 or 3 Ethernet ports and then had the USB port moved to the back and maybe another 1 or 2 ports USB Ports added instead.

I'd really love to have been in the meeting when this design for the box was approved. On the surface the box seems good with all the fancy logos for picasa, twitter, etc but in reality what use are most of these to most people?

I'm also wondering if VOIP PSTN ports were intentionally left out of the design because Skype is an investor in FON ?
And if you have PSTN ports on the back it makes it really easy to use the hundreds of SIP VOIP Services out there. Many of whom have much cheaper calling rates then Skype.

I don't own a single device that uses or even needs the speed of the n specification, so a Fonera2.0g would suit be much more.

Is there any way to swap and get a discount code for the smaller white Fonera2.0g instead?

http://xipcode.com/index.php/products/fon-2-0g/

Are they still being sold?

The older Fonera2.0g seems like a much nicer looking device to me and the ports are all on one side so less messy to wire then the Fonera2.0n

As hard as I try I just can't see the point of the Fonera2.0n and to be honest I think it's pretty ugly looking device, the original Fonera were so elegant looking in white and you could certainly nail it very high up on a wall for good signal and not have it look tacky.

With this new design all I see it an ugly looking box with messy cabling (because the USB port is at the front). You'd have to put a USB cable in the front and bring it backwards towards a USB 2.0 powered Hub to use all the features.

It's pretty rare to get a standard alone Ethernet only one port ADSL Modem these days so I can't ever see the 4 Ethernet Ports onthe back of the Fonera 2.0n being used when I have 4 Ethernet Ports already on my O2 ADSL Modem . 4 port Wifi Router. I'd much rather have seen the space at the back devote to maybe 2 or 3 Ethernet ports and then had the USB port moved to the back and maybe another 1 or 2 ports USB Ports added instead.

I'd really love to have been in the meeting when this design for the box was approved. On the surface the box seems good with all the fancy logos for picasa, twitter, etc but in reality what use are most of these to most people?

I'm also wondering if VOIP PSTN ports were intentionally left out of the design because Skype is an investor in FON ?
And if you have PSTN ports on the back it makes it really easy to use the hundreds of SIP VOIP Services out there. Many of whom have much cheaper calling rates then Skype.

I don't own a single device that uses or even needs the speed of the n specification, so a Fonera2.0g would suit be much more.

please note above was posted in error as a new topic instead of a reply to the existing topic below (and I can't see a delete option):

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=6502

I have a F2G for sale.

most isp's only allow the adsl modems they give with your subscription...this for helpdesk troubles...
if you want something like fon with 4 ports, voip, wifi sharing, adsl...then please google for Wireless Hippies...or were it Wippies...dunno; they don't ship to Belgium/UK I Believe...only to Spain, Germany and Scandinavia and Estland I believe...

So for the wifi sharing...limit yourself to the fonera+ but this will only offer wifi sharing...it doesn't offer anything any regular wifi router offers...


get a Siemens C470IP and connect it to one of the 4 ports of your isp modem....

connect a 4...7....12port usb hub to it...no problem...you can access both webcam, usb stick, printer, audio device at thesame time

Wifi-N comes with a limitation...I guess if it were to FON it would have been able to unplug it...to sell more fontennas...but it seems this was not possible

Do open it...loose warranty and "mod" it to the back of it...
I didn't have much space on the fonera 2.0G to connect many devices... so the hub was "bungling" from it

nobody is stopping you to install dansguardian on your fonera 2.0n ?
you'll be the first...if you have a bit of time on your hads to figure it out and document your progress?

on your linux box:
svn co http://svn.fonosfera.org/fon-ng/trunk fon
cd fon
./install.sh
cd openwrt
./scripts/feeds install dansguardian
make menuconfig
choose fonera 2.0n as destination & search for dansguardian & enable it as a package
make V=99
and you'll find it nicely in bin/packages to copy to your fonera & install & configure it...

wiki.fon.com -> development
and google are your friends....


the "off" button could work...
also windows has this free package for "malecious software removal"...
you could try linux.... most people don't even bother installing ClamAv on linux...unless it's becoming a mailserver


try dansguardian?


nothing spectacular...most are nog boasting 600mhz and beyond...

don't visit the dark places on the internet and lo & behold you are safe

The router with the magic push-button "Protect me from bad things out there" was not invented yet . But you can buy a cisco router w/firewall, antivirus, spamfilter and so on... Of course it will cost 3000$, not 79 like F2.

cisco and "firewall"???
as a managed router ....okay....
but as a firewall....<shivers>....

Cisco IOS Firewall, yes, setup directly on the router. But forget it ... this is fon boards not cisco how to ...