Tmobile / BT Fon ..... how ??

50Twuncle

From http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-mobile-broadband#fon

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With BT, Orange or T-Mobile? Get free BT Wi-fi

Anyone with BT broadband, an Orange or a T-Mobile mobile can get free, unlimited internet access to 4 million BT Wi-fi hotspots (depending on your tariff). BT Wi-fi and broadband customers can also access the BT Fon network (more info below).
To sign up you'll need your BT internet email and account password. Check BT Wi-fi hotspot coverage with the BT Wi-fi Directory.

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Could someone elaborate on how I (as a T-Mobile mobile user) can get a BT internet email and account password - to use BT Fon hotspots ?

Naf

You can't use FON (as I understand it, as an Orange customer) - just BT Openzone hotspots... 'BT Wifi and broadband customers' can access FON.

50Twuncle

Naf wrote: »

You can't use FON (as I understand it, as an Orange customer) - just BT Openzone hotspots... 'BT Wifi and broadband customers' can access FON.

Right - so how do they come up with 4 million hot spots - because as far as I can discover - there is only one in my town and 6 in total in my whole county.........

MikeWhite

21Twinkle wrote: »

Right - so how do they come up with 4 million hot spots - because as far as I can discover - there is only one in my town and 6 in total in my whole county.........

I think you'll find you can connect to a lot of people's home routers if they use BT. These routers often have two SSIDs, one for the owner and another for "passers by". Passers by only get net access of course, not into the home network.
Mike

Naf

MikeWhite wrote: »

I think you'll find you can connect to a lot of people's home routers if they use BT. These routers often have two SSIDs, one for the owner and another for "passers by". Passers by only get net access of course, not into the home network.
Mike

These are the ones that come up as FON.
Orange/T-Mobile (EE) customers are not 'BT Wifi customers' and therefore only get access to the core network.

http://help.orange.co.uk/orangeuk/support/personal/528261/2 wrote:

"*BT FON hotspots can appear as BT Openzone hotspots in your list of WiFi networks. These are not included within Orange WiFi at the moment. Using the Orange WiFi app from Apple’s App Store or the Orange hotspot finder tool will find Orange WiFi hotspots."

MikeWhite

Naf,

you are quite right. Should have read your earlier post properly!
So I don't know how they can claim 4 million hotspots.
Mike

Naf

4 million could be 1,000 in and around 4,000 locations. Which I don't think sounds unreasonable... There's 50 cities, 1050 towns and a total of around 3,500 cities, towns & villages around the UK. That means an average of about 1,100 spots per place. Given how many more than this the cities & larger towns will have, it seems perfectly possible.

50Twuncle

Naf wrote: »

4 million could be 1,000 in and around 4,000 locations. Which I don't think sounds unreasonable... There's 50 cities, 1050 towns and a total of around 3,500 cities, towns & villages around the UK. That means an average of about 1,100 spots per place. Given how many more than this the cities & larger towns will have, it seems perfectly possible.

Not if you check their on-line location map - perhaps 2000 in total appear on it !!

mije1983

You can also get wi-fi in over 4 million hotspots throughout the UK. If you're a BT Broadband customer, you get free wi-fi with your broadband. By agreeing to securely share a portion of your wi-fi bandwidth through a separate channel on your BT Hub, you let others get online when your Hub's turned on. In return, you can use others' active Hubs to get wi-fi internet access when you're away from home.

This is from their website, so it looks like the 4 million claim includes other users bandwidth for which you need BT broadband.

With BT Wi-fi you can connect any time at over 3,500 UK and the Republic of Ireland BT Wi-fi premium hotspots.

I think this is what non BT subscribers can access.

fiendishlyclever

My sister's home hub had 3 SSIDs, one for her own use, one for Fon, and one for Openzone. My mum has an older home hub that has one only for her personal use. I remember checking because I have a Fon router (not through BT) and can use the Fon network.

Personally I found they aren't much use unless you spend a long time stationary for example in a pub or at a friend's house. I tend to stick to mobile data when I'm out and about now.

Naf

BT's ultimate aim is to have coverage practically everywhere so as you walk along you can switch from one FON hotspot to the next seamlessly: saving mobile data and improving speeds.