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| Is the World Ready for a Unified Wi-Fi Network? |
| Argentine entrepreneur sets sights on 'FON' to make it work |
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Fernando Marino-Aguirre (kalonik)  |
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Published 2005-11-14 15:01 (KST) |
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The Argentine entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky has started a new company in Spain called FON in order to create a unified Wi-Fi network.
"The idea is that each FON member connects his WIFIFON to the flat fee he subscribed to, so that instead of paying us five cents a minute, the user speaks for free," says Varsasky.
According to the site's FAQ, there are two kinds of FON users: the "Linus" and the "Bill": referring to the creator of the open-source Linux operating system Linus Torvalds and Microsoft's Bill Gates."If you are willing to share then you are definitely a Linus. This means that others will use your Wi-Fi Internet access but in exchange you get free roaming among the FON network.
If you want to milk your Internet access, then you are a Bill. FON will reimburse to you 50 percent of the revenues generated through your Wi-Fi. Bills won't have free roaming," says the FAQ. Varsasky explained that FON is based on the premise that Wi-Fi users are only taking advantage of three percent of their capacity on average. In other words, they are wasting 97 percent of their potential.
When you sign up to share your Wi-Fi signal, one natural drawback is it reduces your available bandwidth. The company says their software allots 50 percent of the signal for the user's needs in order to counter a drop in system performance.
For Varsaksy, the challenge is to create a global Wi-Fi company. That is why he is trying to extend his project to Sweden, France and Mexico. The FON Web site currently offers service in seven languages.
The project appeared on Varsasky's blog -- all that is needed to join is a FON compatible Wi-Fi access point (at this time they are using the Linksys WRT54G). The user can download the software and immediately transform it into a FON access point.
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©2005 OhmyNews
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