By silicon.com, 4 October 2007 17:56
There is quite a debate that rages about whether you should share your home broadband connection when it is flung beyond the walls of your home using wi-fi. (We're even running a poll about it here.)
There are those who want a completely locked down, it's-mine-mine-mine home wireless network. Which is fair enough.
Others unwittingly let others onto their connection, which isn't so great.
Others still find other people sharing their bandwidth, maybe parked up outside in a car or in a residence next door, and see that as theft. In fact the police increasingly see it that way too, as recent stories have highlighted.
But how about if you want to share your connection safely? How about if you want to use other like-minded surfers' connections in this way too, namely completely legally? And how about if you want that option far and wide as you travel?
Today BT teamed up with FON of Spain to launch something like that. The hyperbole talks of "the world's largest wi-fi community". Maybe it is, maybe not, depending on your definitions. But we like this idea.
The companies behind FON - Google, Skype, Index Ventures (of Skype and other fame), Sequoia Capital (too many tech successes to mention) and indeed now BT - know a thing or two about the power of networks.
BT Total Broadband customers have the option of hiving off a piece of their broadband connection in return for surfing 'away from home' near the routers of customers doing the same thing, for them.
Much has been said in the past about the imminent rise of mesh networks - the idea being that stringing together almost infinite numbers of nodes, internet-working and moving away from a hub-and-spoke base station strategy (in part, at least) is inevitable. But it hasn't really happened.
Could this be where that changes? It does need vast numbers of people to sign up but beginning with a BT base of three million appropriate broadband users who will then connect to others on other networks - or so the plan states - is a decent starting position.
silicon.com will be watching developments in this space closely - and expects more large-scale wi-fi announcements in coming weeks.
Comments
There are 2 comments. Join the discussion
1. John H Woods
It's easy to make it clear you have shared your wifi on purpose --- just put 'PUBLIC' in the SSID. As long as your own machines are secure and you use secure sites for shopping, you should be fine. For optimum safety, run a public and private network on two different channels. 90% of the time people are only trying to hack your wifi to get on the internet, so why not give them what they want and relax?
2. Mike Grenville
One of the frustrations of big Corporations making these announcements is that they take time to join up the dots.
As I have a BT business broadband I tried ringing them to get signed up. I was passed around many different departments including Business broadband, consumer broadband, Openzone and more - none of whom had any idea what I was talking about. Eventually one agent found something that suggested that it was a consumer product. But as a business user surely the opening up of thousands of hot-spots is just the thing a business traveller would be interested in.
I was also told that selected customers were being emailed and invited to sign up to FON. So I wait for my invite without holding my breath.