FON launches "the wireless networking era": 5$ for a router!
FON has been building a telecom infrastructure network without actualling investing in the actual infrastructure! History provides us with countless examples of Capex (capital expenditures) being the cornerstone of telco infrastructure companies (e.g. Google and its secret fiber optics network project).
However, the business model of FON makes such a move possible: people subscribing to FON (FONeros) share their own wireless connection with the FONeros surfing next to their home. And conversely, when travelling in or out of town you are able to connect to other FONeros´ wireless networks.
And to make sure it is just the beginning wireless democratization, FON just launched a special offer: you´ll get a router for 5$ alonside your first one-year subscription within the FON community.
What about the future then? Will we all become FONeros aswell as we´d be bound to feed our personal blog one day? Have we entered a new era, "the wireless networking era"? CISCO, already a networking company, has been the fastest growing company ever; will it be overtaken by FON?
posted by Jeremy Fain at
3:53 PM
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4 Comments:
Jedi,
For once, I do not support your viewpoint. I think FON is very likely to become a worldwide popular tool like Yahoo!, Google, eBay, and this very blog - IT Addict));
Anyway, only time will tell who´s right between us. Make sure you remember these postings so that we can see where we stand together!
By
Jeremy Fain, at 6/27/2006 03:42:00 PM
You know Jedi, I can´t see how FON, a project financially backed up by Skype, Google and two top-tier venture capital funds (namely Sequoia Capital, THE most prominent fund, and Index Ventures), cannot be a huge success. It almost already is! (take a look at its founder´s blog in my links - FON is ahead schedule in terms of market penetration!).
For more information on FON shareholder´s structure: http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/06/75072_HNgoogleskype_1.html
By
Jeremy Fain, at 6/27/2006 05:37:00 PM
Jeremy, a company called joltage networks tried that fon-style of stuff a bit after 2000. and then there was myzones after that. both collapsed in few years.
I and couple of friends tried to build a little wi-fi cloud in my neighorhood to have our own little lan, but we found out that the wlan-tech just sucks.
having spent two weeks around europe with really spotty (and in hotels, really expensive) internet access, the idea behind FON is something I would've loved, but maybe I'm just too cynical with my own experiences with wlan as anything other than immature tech for last mile connections.
By
Kari, at 7/10/2006 09:35:00 AM
Kari, if you want, I can put you in touch with people who work with FON. I believe your experience can be extremely valuable to them because, from talking with them, I can tell that they trust wLan technology a lot.
By
Jeremy Fain, at 7/10/2006 10:25:00 AM
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