Deprecated FON Boards !

FON partners are great, they can potentially add millions of FONspots in each country to basically blanket countries with FON-compatible WiFi networks.

FON should ship new firmwares that provide Mesh WiFi networking. Thus display on the FON welcome page "Buy a FON Mesh router for 19€, plug it to your electricity by your window, and get free WiFi access on this FONspot". This would expand the coverage of FON hotspots since Mesh would potentially allow up to 10s of Routers to extend the coverage of the initial FONspot to potentially cover the whole nabourhood. Revenue from the sale of Meshed routers should also be forwarded to the initial FONspot provider as a sort of referral deal.

The amount of Mesh routers per FONspot should be limited according to it being technically possible. As well as perhaps the application to get such Mesh router should first analyse the adress that is input and so, the adress has to preferably be not immediate nabours but rather a couple numbers further or preferably on the other side of the street. Perhaps the price of the router could change dynamically depending on the adress that is input, so if it is calculated that the location of that Mesh router will optimize the coverage of the FONspot, and if that FONspot is being calculated to have a lot of traffic (located in a densely populated high traffic area), and that the customer registering isn't already using a too high proportion of the FONspot as an Alien, then the Mesh router could perhaps even be given for free to encourage such broadening of the coverage of each FONspot.

Later, with WiMax and white spaces spectrum deals, FON could distribute Meshed routers that not only forward a WiFi signal, but would also forward WiMax and white space signals.

Installation of such Automatic Mesh FON router should be that when you turn the Fonera on, and if it detects a FON_AP signal in its proximity, then it will automatically forward that signal until it may be setup as a normal FON router. So basically it should be simply plug and play. Perhaps the name of the new FON_AP could be FON_FREE_WIRELESS_MESH1 then _MESH2 _MESH3 etc, the naming of each Mesh router would be managed by the original FONspot router. And the welcome page would display a "This FONspot is a Mesh of FON_AP" or whatever the name is of the original FONspot.

Revenues from each additionnal Mesh router connected would go to the owner of the original FONspot. The person installing a Mesh router simply earns the right to connect to the Internet for free. That right only is sustained as long as the Mesh router is active and that it provides expanded revenues for the FONspot provider. So basically an aplciant for the Mesh router may not be elligible, for example if the FONspot is not located in an area where many different devices connect to it.

I initially posted this idea as a comment on http://english.martinvarsavsky.net/fon/ ... ment-51765

This Mesh Fonera should also be configurable by WiFi to connect to any WPA protected hotspot if the user has access to those and basically create a FONspot on these. This could thus become an easier way for people to install FONspots then to have to connect Ethernet cables and manage routers and switches in their home. This would also be an easy way for a Fonero to install another FONspot on the other side of ones appartment facing another street to extend the range of the FONspot or this could be the perfect plug-and-play solution for a Hotel owner to install good FON WiFi coverage on every floor of the hotel.

The creator of the "fon-repeater" whose scripts are used in eg Francofon is working for more than a year on "meshing" foneras...

you can find more info at http://www.blogin.it

the last forum messages seem to indicate it has stabilized for just meshing... (eg no dialy reboots necessary anymore) nor reeinstallation of firmware on your whole mesh bed...

the "coofachilli" addon is not yet as stable...
also FON chose not to support this endeavour (they did have a meeting!)
so they had to go to one of FON's competitors...;
now FON has no real competitors in the "free roaming" world (tomizone in Australia, Wippies in Scandinavia, ... )...
but in the "billing wifi hotspots" there are competitors... (sputnik, worldspot, wifi-cpa, ... )
and they are much better in every way
* stability of firmware
* captive portal customization
* more features
perhaps FON has only 2 unique features
* SMS billing
* Download of hotspot directory (which also includes lot's of incorrect hotspots and inactive hotspots) as POI for your GPS

If FON has chosen not to do Mesh to respect the business model they have pitched to their ISP partners, in which people will be incentivised to subscribe to ADSL and Cable Internet providers and install FON at home to roam for free on FON all over the world, well FON should just rewrite that pitch slightly:

FON is going to blanket the world with WiFi access. To do that we need to expand the WiFi coverage to be global. Each FONspot needs to be expanded 2 or 3 times using Mesh functionality. The expanded WiFi network will generate more usage, which will generate more revenue which will be shared with the ISP when they are partners. More coverage, reaches more users which will be more incentivised to signup with ISPs themselves to setup FON and not only roam for free, but earn enough money to pay a significant part of their ADSL or Cable connection costs.

For example if a FON router is meshing for a BT FON connection, the welcome page on each Mesh Fonera will always be the BT FON welcome page. So the branding is expanded.

Fon could build strict legibility rules for free Internet access to people that install Mesh Foneras, such as they only can enjoy free Internet access as long as their Mesh is always active (gets electricity) and especially that their Mesh provides more range in a measured way provides more customers, thus more income to the ISP, to FON and to the original FONspot provider.

Finally, Fon should send all their Foneros a whole bunch of stickers by mail regularilly. Putting up "FON hotspot" stickers in the streets is the best way to make neighborhoods know that there is a hotspot right there.

* should only the "gateway" nodes in the mesh receive the revenue?
* what if someone with better internet access places a mesh gateway node (or just a nice 24db omni antenna on his roof and "steal" all public from your repeater nodes '(which you bought & installed & placed everywhere) out there? -> eg do not allow other people to access your personal fon mesh???

The gateway node gets additional revenue from the meshes. The mesh itself gets to use the Internet connection for free according to how much that mesh has brought in extra traffic. This effectiveness of the mesh can easilly be calculated by counting the number of Aliens that connect to it compared to the number of Aliens that connect to the "gateway" Fonera.

The installer of the mesh fonera has registered with Fon with his email, so if the effectivity of his Mesh is low, or if his Mesh seems to be disconnected, he will get email alerts telling him stuff like "Try aiming your mesh Antenna in another direction or point it to another window", "Use these stickers to advertise for the Fonspot on your street". "Your mesh is not being useful enough if you want to keep getting free Internet access at FON_AP".



Fon knows through whome the Mesh Fonera user has purchased the Mesh Fonera. Fon knows through whome the Mesh Fonera user initially was introduced to Fon, and Fon knows the locations of each fonspot. With a GPS logging Fon WiFi-sniffer software on for example Google Android, FON could perhaps even have users map out precise FONspot coverage coordinates in an attempt to blanket every city with a good FON WiFi signal. This can be done with just a few tens of thousand of FONspots per city plus add to that another few tens of thousands of Mesh Fonera routers. Consider each mesh-capable Fonera costs $10 to manufacture, blanketing a city thus costs $200 thousand, which is extremely cheap, and the fun is shared for free by everyone that participates in deploying it at their windows.

I believe most foneras have little or no "alien" activity... most foneras are not in public places (that was only invented very recently)
so there would be a lot of email traffic.



Google android is only for sale for developers...
Handywi allready logs this...if you have a gps inside your nokia device
fring could be implemented with an "addon" for such things

you need mesh-gateway nodes between every 4 mesh-repeaters... the "best" implementations are with at least 4 heavy omni antennas as gateway node... and everyone that joins using such a repeater node...

Now in the end... why not go for the "meraki" solution?
or "open-mesh.com" solution -> http://www.confero24.com sells them
FON has clearly shown it's intent to go towards installation on ISP modems (Neuf, Bt, ZON, Comstar, ...)
while meshing seems to catch on only at Meraki & open-mesh

I don't know if Fon has released their numbers, but I believe most people in general live in densely populated areas. I would estimate that more then 50% of Foneras have at least 20-30 households in range of a normal Fonera antenna and perhaps more then 50 households in range of Fontennas.

I get dozens of paying Aliens each month on my Fontenna, and I don't even live close to a hotel or a cafe.

But usage will increase dramatically with blanket coverage once people get used to know that there is FON signals everywhere in the city. So far, most cities only still have spotty coverage with FON reachable in less then 10% or less then 5% of places. So when coverage is so low, people don't know about it and people don't think of looking for it which means most people don't really use WiFi when they are on the move very often.

But with blanketing, devices connecting to Fon could have automatic Fon roaming software built in, so for example you can place WiFi VOIP calls using Fon and keep walking in the streets, and cars and buses could use it as well.

Even though WiMax, HSDPA and white spaces are interesting, I think WiFi will continue to be very useful for the next several years. It's partly a case of available bandwidth on those cellular networks being quite limited, so especially to stream videos, upload big files, it will continue to be practical to use WiFi hotspots.



Does it let me cheaply expand the reach of my FON_FREE_WIRELESS hotspot?

I'd say that if the $10 Fonera 1.0 is capable of doing mesh, it would only make sense for Fon to activate that feature by default. I'd like to go to my neighbors that live about 50 meters from my window, and put an add in the mailbox of all users of the whole stairs saying "The first one to logon on my FON_FREE_WIRELESS to register for installing a free Mesh Fonera by their window, gets free Internet access."

And the same can be especially done in densely populated areas, especially around cafes, around hotels, this would be very useful, for you to expand your Fonspot, you could actively go do some marketing to your neighbors to install Meshes for you on their electrical outlets and in return have free wireless internet.

not here...
I can 'sometimes' see the FON signal of my neighbour... although he lives just next to me...
the houses are build very strong overhere
I'm allready happy if people would "bring" along their laptop... most never leave their desk

I've even installed a 16x16 omni on my roof... no one connected
got perhaps 30 households in the vincinity...
[/quote]

the best quality is with a strong omni antenna... in dense area... on the highest roof
perhaps i'll do some retesting of meshing but in the past they were not yet stable and even slower than a fonera+

Mostly at 100% of places in european cities will you always see WiFi hotspots when you sniff around. Usually you even see 10 or 20 wifi hotspots anyplace you are. So just consider 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 of all WiFi hotspots are FON, this would basically make FON blanketing a city.

Making partnerships with the biggest ISP is one really easy way to do it (it would be even easier if they decided to implement automatic firmware updates with an opt-out letter or email to all customers instead of opt-in as it is now with Neuf, BT and the others.).

So really Fon could blanket all cities pretty rapidly, in a matter of just a few months actually. Add to that community powered deployment of tens of thousands of $10 Mesh Foneras, then the coverage would quickly be global and people would start knowing it's there, people can expect it to be everywhere and people can demand it to be everywhere. Thus a city council could quickly decide to promote the installation of Mesh routers all over the city (inside people's homes, by their windows) for very little investment, a maximum of a few hundred thousand dollars per city, the total deployment costs of which would probably be covered by 3 months of aliens using the network.

Through partnerships by the City with Fon, every citizen would then receive free Fon usernames and passwords to use the whole Fon network for free without even having to install it at home. The city would then in return promise Fon to support the installation of Fon meshes and gateways all over the city, and always the installations will be inside people's homes, and perhaps later also, when they become available, the city could deploy hundreds of solar powered meshes as well. This approach is 100 times cheaper, much faster to implement and much more effective then any other communal wifi network projects.

you are watching "adsl" or "cable" modems with builtin wifi...most owners don't even use it...it's just on by default...
some even forgot the password.
They are also not much interested in adding another wifi device like the fonera to it.

In the Belgium coastal cities there is such a project "city-mesh.be"
they sell a meshing node for 99 euro; you will get the first month free internet (via the mesh) and you pay 34 euro/month afterwards.
People can use your meshing node to get to the internet (4 euro for 30 minutes access) but you are not refunded.
Citymesh removed monthly limits last month...
The backbone is done by a few big antennas...

FON is not selling them again at 10$ ...and the competition isn't doing this as well :
http://www.confero24.com//index.php?cName=mesh-networks
Meraki even went upto 99$ for each mesh node if you don't want advertisements
http://www.govtech.com/gt/377232?topic=117699
Kentucky Town invested 8500$ to have a 2 mile radius covered by meshing nodes ... 75% for the equipment the rest for adsl backbone & marketing



Also every "gateway node" will have to become member of the national ISP organisation in each country because they are now professionaly serving wifi for several town adresses! This membership is not for free!
There is allready discussing if the hotspot owner has to do some regulations or not... (isp's are trying not to be responsible)

That is why big ISP Fon partners should push out firmware updates with opt-out only letters or emails to their customers. If BT had pushed out the firmware updates and activated Fon with opt-out only, the BT Fon would have millions of active Fonspots in the UK by now and not only hundreds of thousands. The ISPs can do what they want, that's how terms of use work, the ISP can always change the terms of use simply by saying so.

I believe that if ISPs don't push out automatic firmware updates that add Fon firewalling and Fon routing features to all WiFi enabled DSL and Cable modems, then the governments should force all the ISPs to do it in the interest of improving Internet access in all cities. And that is also to decrease the digital divide (current wireless data options are very expensive and capped, why shouldn't anyone be able to get free unlimited wireless broadband Internet?).

The Fonera 1.0 costs $10 to manufacture, and it is powerful enough to manage meshing by a firmware update. So really I think Fon should release that firmware update, as well as Fon should update the firmware to bridge the private WLAN with the local LAN shared Samba/Upnp shares to make Foneras usable for media streamers within the home.

At least, dear Fon, do make some trials with Mesh firmware installed on Fonera 1.0 and invite your ISP friends to check out the results. They will see that it would not be a disadvantage to their goal that Mesh Foneras be distributed to people. It is also in the ISP's interest that their Fon WiFi hotspots range be expanded.

Early editions of La Fonera firmware had WDS meshing built-in, and it was automatically activated. This was not documented, but was discovered by us while investigating large amounts of traffic which was not attributable to anyone logged in. It was implimented improperly, and so was being used by hackers to get free wifi without our permission. Fon pushed new firmware which did not have WDS anymore, shortly after the investigation was publicly discussed.

In later months, Fon President Martin Varsavsky blogged that Fon might explore meshing in the future (never acknowledging that WDS had ever existed in Fon firmware), but that the "Fontenna", sold by Fon, was a superior solution to extending the range of the Fon Network.
Fon has released some numbers, but it remains to be seen if they are complete, or what they really mean:
http://elfonblog.fondoo.net/?p=108

In closing, I would just say that I encourage everyone to continue to share their ideas and needs here with other Foneros. While Fon may perhaps not be moved to impliment these ideas, it is always good for us Foneros to feel that we are in the company of like-minded people. I, myself am nearly content to treat all of these things as purely theoretical now. When the odd thing here or there becomes reality, it feels like an extra bonus.

notice that main shareholders of fon are dsl providers... Mr Varsavski (jazztel) and others