Does anyone here use FON?

barginboyrob

I was looking in to FONero after seeing a link from one of Martins articles , does anyone use it...any thoughts/tips about it?

I was wondering if I should get it or not....

ACDeag

barginboyrob wrote: »

I was looking in to FONero after seeing a link from one of Martins articles , does anyone use it...any thoughts/tips about it?

I was wondering if I should get it or not....

Yes I have one, at one point I got €20-€30 per month (my account was in €uro for some reason). I now get virtually nothing since nearly every BT Home Hub is also a Fon transmitter, by keeping it on I at least get roaming privileges.

milbern

I wouldn't unless things change. It was a real money-wasting tip for me!

After reading about it in Martin's mobile broadband column and reading some of the FON columns I shelled out over £50 for a Fonera 2 router. It took a couple of days to get it up and running and registered and it works fine. That's when I discovered that it doesn't give free access to BT Openzone Hotspots, only to individuals' home hubs. So now I have an expensive wireless router in addition to my existing excellent but cheaper router and I am providing free access to BT foneros who want to use my hotspot but not getting it where I want it. It seems that most places that have free access to Foneros are places that already offer free access to anyone.

FON's maps show a hotspot just where I wanted to use it. What they don't show is that it is a BT Openzone hotspot and I would have to pay normal BT rates to access it or buy FON vouchers (I think they come to about 12p per minute).

I went onto the FON forums and discovered that a lot of people had made the same mistake. Apparently it used to be possible to access BT Openzone hotspots but BT has now blocked FON users from logging in. Anyone want a good router that won't give you free access to BT Openzone?

OldB

If you still have the Fonera I might be interested if the user name / account or whatever gives you access to Fon hotspots can be transferred...

I have been to a couple of BTOpenZone hotspots and they DO appear to allow a separate login for people who own a Fonera - does that not give you access?

jordylass

does anyone have fonera roaming code that they'd be willing to share. I need access for about a month, where I am staying is excellent fon connection but my dongle is rubbish.

Gloomendoom

I've got one. I've used it once or twice to access Fon spots. However, despite what is indicated on the Fon map, active Fon routers seem to be hard to find.

If nothing else, the device itself does make a useful wireless repeater.

On a brighter note, I've found the included BT Openzone minutes quite handy.

weevil_

I'm thinking of getting FON when I move depending on the other hotspots there (Norwich, if anyone knows), plus it does give you some free BT Openzone minutes.

But I don't understand what the point of the more expensive router is? It says you can manage your downloads from it so you don't need to turn your computer on, but you must be turning a computer on to be accessing it?? Unless it means you can access it away from home and manage these things?

ACDeag

weevil_ wrote: »

I'm thinking of getting FON when I move depending on the other hotspots there (Norwich, if anyone knows), plus it does give you some free BT Openzone minutes.

But I don't understand what the point of the more expensive router is? It says you can manage your downloads from it so you don't need to turn your computer on, but you must be turning a computer on to be accessing it?? Unless it means you can access it away from home and manage these things?

Two separate things. If you have a BT Home Hub and enable BT Fon on it you will get some BT Openzone minutes in exchange, and some minutes to use at Fon points.

If you go and buy a Fon router then you will be entitled to unlimited use at all Fon and BT Fon access points but not any BT Openzone.

kwikbreaks

First the download stuff - apparently the Fonera 2 has an inbuilt torrent client so you can set it up to download something to a usb disk/pendrive - once set up you can turn off your PC. It seems even pirates (and of course all those linux distro aficionados) are going green.

I've just ordered a Fonera+ and you are supposed to get 120 OpenZone minutes with it. What you do get as soon as you order is a 3 week pass to FON and BT FON hotspots - that becomes a permanent pass when you connect and register the router so long as you leave it running.

There is no longer an option to become a "Bill" (ie get paid for accesses to your hotspot) in the UK.

I can't comment on the router as it hasn't turned up yet. I don't know how easy it is to find FON hotspots but their map - http://maps.fon.com/ shows loads (when the server is working - it was down last night). My son ran an app on his googlephone logging all hotspots between where he is working and some shops a mile or so away and it logged loads of them - I guess the problem may be range as you can't really sit on the kerb outside somebodies house.

I got it for a few reasons..

I'd been looking at them and they did a free post offer in August so that brought the price down enough for me to risk buying something that turns out to be a white elephant.

I've found that in most holiday locations my Vodafone 3G is about as much use as a chocolate teapot - maybe FON hotspots will offer at least something.

I'll set it up in my upstairs office and put an external aerial on it which will cover my garden (my router indoors doesn't).

weevil_

ACDeag wrote: »

Two separate things. If you have a BT Home Hub and enable BT Fon on it you will get some BT Openzone minutes in exchange, and some minutes to use at Fon points.

If you go and buy a Fon router then you will be entitled to unlimited use at all Fon and BT Fon access points but not any BT Openzone.

Yes, I knew these things but you do actually get some BT Openzone minutes with the Fon router as well. I was interested in the point of the 2nd, more expensive router.

weevil_

kwikbreaks wrote: »

First the download stuff - apparently the Fonera 2 has an inbuilt torrent client so you can set it up to download something to a usb disk/pendrive - once set up you can turn off your PC. It seems even pirates (and of course all those linux distro aficionados) are going green.

That sounds like a lot of faffing about to me as well as having to buy a decent size USB drive. I already use my old shuttle PC as a fileserver and remote access into it from my laptop, and then it plugs into my TV (my laptop doesn't). I think the cheaper router would be enough for me.

There is no longer an option to become a "Bill" (ie get paid for accesses to your hotspot) in the UK.

That's a shame as although that was the one where you didn't get any minutes yourself wasn't it? Do they still have the middle option where you get paid a bit but still get access yourself?