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Free FON router

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22 Dec 2006

To increase their user base, FON has tried a number of things, including selling them for $5 and giving a bunch away on the streets of San Francisco. Now they’re giving existing FON customers the ability to invite their friends into the network. Invited friends get a free account. I’ve been running a FON router for a few months and have three invitations for free La Fonera routers.

La Fonera is slightly larger than a deck of playing cards and has a single antenna. Installing it is simple. Plug in power and connect the single ethernet port to your existing home network or broadband modem. You’ll find two different wireless networks, a private net and the open public net. The setup will ask a few configuration questions and you’re then online.

My Fonera router interferes with the 2.4 Ghz cordless phone on my desk. I hear a constant quiet clicking sound any time La Fonera is turned on. Two other wireless routers sitting in the same place on the desk do not cause this interference. A question to FON about this problem has gone unanswered for well over a week.

Fon might be a good way for you to add wifi to a location that doesn’t already have one. I’ve added wifi points at several family members houses so I can have access when I’m there. Installing a La Fonera router would have been a cheaper and easier way to do this. The cordless phone interference is a concern however.

J5
December 23, 2006 9:57 AM

Hi. It' possible to have one Fonera invitation? Thanks...

Adam Kalsey
December 27, 2006 3:49 PM

Sorry, folks, I'm not giving out routers. I was simply reporting on FON's new marketing ploy.

mike
February 9, 2007 5:33 PM

have you tried changing the wireless channel on either the phone and/or the access point?

rob
February 19, 2007 11:36 AM

i have no internet connection at home but will i be able to access the internet at home if i had the la fonera router

bigmini
February 22, 2007 2:51 PM

Fon Is meant to piggy back on your existing Internet connection so the answer is no, but if you would like an invite for the free router drop me an email @ Gmail bigmincooper I have one invite to give away

lkjlkjljkjkl
February 22, 2007 4:10 PM

Fon is just a gimmick for a new profit-seeking company. If you want to contribute to the society that you live in, work towards a truly free internet community. It is simple to take the fon technology and build a new, more free technology on top of it. Watch for this. The rhetoric of the fon "movimiento" is pure bs, and you shouldn't buy into it. Don't be another sucker!

wookie of happiness
April 13, 2007 3:33 PM

make the fon not-suck by slapping on DD-WRT firmware instead http://dd-wrt.com

This discussion has been closed.

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