How does BT Openzone actually work ?

Richard_T_

The fon part, as far as i know is on by default, and opt out.
However it does have quite a few benefits:

If your a BT customer it doesnt come off your alloawnces, so by having your router transmitting fon, your not losing anything.

You have priority over the bandwidth

Wifi while out and about, on your smartphone, or P.C, if your having trouble with the BT app, try Fon's own stand alone app.#

Free wifi while abroad, and near a local fon hotspot, some of the countries/places heavily covered are, the UK, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Moscow, Japan, and parts of the eastern USA

http://maps.fon.com/

Ectophile

If you plug in a BT Home Hub, it transmits three wireless identifiers.

One is your encrypted signal, for your own computers to connect to.

The other two are BT Openzone and BT WiFi. These are unencrypted, but will require a username and password to do anything.

The encrypted and unencrypted signals are treated as completely separate networks, with different IP addresses. You only get billed for usage on your own network connection.

If somebody does log in using BT Openzone or BT WiFi, it will take a proportion of the overall broadband bandwidth, but your internet usage gets priority. So if you are using a lot, they will only get a little.

It's an opt-out service for all new customers. BT assume you want it unless you opt out on the web site. If you do opt out, then you lose the ability to use anyone else's WiFi network to log in.

Bradfield

Richard_T_ wrote: »

The fon part, as far as i know is on by default, and opt out.
However it does have quite a few benefits:

If your a BT customer it doesnt come off your alloawnces, so by having your router transmitting fon, your not losing anything.

You have priority over the bandwidth

Wifi while out and about, on your smartphone, or P.C, if your having trouble with the BT app, try Fon's own stand alone app.#

Free wifi while abroad, and near a local fon hotspot, some of the countries/places heavily covered are, the UK, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Moscow, Japan, and parts of the eastern USA

http://maps.fon.com/

The wifi is an "opt-in" service. I went through the process a couple of days ago. I had to complete the on-line wifi registration and agree to the terms and conditions.

I am really pleased with the wifi. If my own bt broadband fails I can log in to other bt broadband users nearby. Very useful as a safety net. Have not had much of a chance to test the wifi whilst out and about but it is looking good.

Bradfield

Ectophile wrote: »

If you plug in a BT Home Hub, it transmits three wireless identifiers.

One is your encrypted signal, for your own computers to connect to.

The other two are BT Openzone and BT WiFi. These are unencrypted, but will require a username and password to do anything.

The encrypted and unencrypted signals are treated as completely separate networks, with different IP addresses. You only get billed for usage on your own network connection.

If somebody does log in using BT Openzone or BT WiFi, it will take a proportion of the overall broadband bandwidth, but your internet usage gets priority. So if you are using a lot, they will only get a little.

It's an opt-out service for all new customers. BT assume you want it unless you opt out on the web site. If you do opt out, then you lose the ability to use anyone else's WiFi network to log in.

As stated above. You have to "opt-in" by agreeing to the terms and conditions. It is not given by default.

I was surprised how easy it was to set up the Bt Home-Hub. They just ask for your telephone number and log-in details and you are up and running. With my previous routers I had to go through laborious set up procedures.

With the Bt wifi app you can connect to other users wifi without having to enter your log-in details every time.

diamonds

BT WiFi incorporates FON, BT Broadband users check status here
https://www.bt.com/wifi/secure/status.do?s_cid=con_FURL_btfon/status

https://www.BTFON.com main page

Bradfield

Thanks for the link diamonds. Just looked at the terms and conditions and it is all becoming as clear as mud.

Quote:

" 1) From the middle of March 2009 BT Broadband customers automatically became part of BT Wi-fi, unless they chose to opt-out. Likewise, from December 2009 all customers who re-contracted to BT Broadband now receive access to BT Wi-fi, part of the global Fon community. All other BT Broadband customers who joined prior to this date and who did not agree a new minimum term will need to opt-in via www.bt.com/btwifi.


* Even if you don't have a BT Home Hub you will still get the minutes of access when you opt-in. If you get a BT Home Hub in the future and remain opted in it will automatically be configured to allow other BT Wi-fi members to log in."

Hope that clarifies things.

diamonds

Welcome



Merry Xmas ALL

Richard_T_

wrigbrede wrote: »

It never works on my iPhone.

from what i know the BT apps to connect can be problematic ( my expierience is with andoid, although i gather the iphone/ios app is simalar)

Fortunatly there are a few alternatives out there, such as:

Fon: not the BT version, there is a Fon only app that should autoconnect you

Also try easy wifi app ( devicescape) this will autoconnect you to several wifi hotspot providers, once you feed it the relavent username/passwords for each provider ( this works with Fon)