'Hot spots of the world, unite,' says Fon

IDG News Service - Fon calls itself a movement. It has a manifesto and uses words like solidarity and revolution. The design of Fon's Web site is reminiscent of Soviet propaganda art. Fon comes complete with its own lingo, with participants known as Foneros, Bills, Linuses and Aliens.

Yet behind the brotherly-love imagery are plans for making money, as well as a few question marks.
Fon, an organization launched in Europe in early November, aims to be a global community of people who share and use one another's Wi-Fi hot spots. "We create a global Wi-Fi cloud out of what used to be disparate hot spots," said Martin Varsavsky, the organization's founder. "We take this Wi-Fi mess and turn it into a Wi-Fi network."

Varsavsky has started several companies in his time, including Jazz Telecom SA, a Spanish telecommunications operator, and Ya.com, Spain's Internet content company, now owned by T-Online International AG. Beyond his start-ups, Varsavsky is also active in a number of organizations involved with global social issues, and it is perhaps this side of him that planted the seed for the idea behind Fon.

"Foneros," as those who participate are called, download software onto their Wi-Fi access points or buy an access point with the software from Fon or an Internet service provider. Foneros come in two shades. Those who want to make money are known as Bills, named, of course, after Bill Gates. Those who just want to share their hot spots and use other Foneros' hot spots for free are known as Linuses, after Linus Torvalds, developer of the open-source Linux kernel.

"The Wi-Fi revolution needs both the socialists (the Linuses) and the 'free marketeers' (the Bills)," Varsavsky wrote in his blog.

There's also a third category of people involved, called Aliens. Aliens don't contribute to the network but they pay Foneros to use their hot spots.

An Alien might, for example, sit at a cafe with a laptop and find a Fon hot spot operated by a Fonero. The software on the access point will ask the Alien to pay to use the hot spot. Once a month, the Fonero will receive a check or payment to his account from Fon for this and other Aliens' usage.

Bills can't use other Fon hot spots unless they pay, like an Alien. Linuses, on the other hand, offer use of their hot spots to other Linuses for free, and in exchange, they're allowed to use any Fon hot spot.

Fon is just getting started, with just 100 hot spots around the

Reprinted with permission from

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