Are You a Bill, A Linus, or an Alien?
Every now and then somebody tries something that's just so cheeky that I have to stand up and cheer. It happened a few days ago when I first learned of Fon, a Spanish startup that will attempt to formalize and monetize the sharing of Internet bandwidth through residential Wi-Fi connections.
Here's basically how it works: You download a firmware update to your Linksys WRT54G wireless router. You flash the new firmware. (!!!) Then you have a decision to make:
- You can qualify as a "Linus" by sharing your bandwidth for free. You are then allowed to use all the other hotspots in the Fon network for free.
- You can qualify as a "Bill" by charging for access to your hotspot. You then must pay for access to other hotspots in the Fon network.
Anybody else can be an Alien, who does not provide bandwidth but pays to use the Fon network. Fon takes 50% of the proceeds paid by Aliens or Bills.
The idea of creating a network (or at least a directory) of people willing to share their home Wi-Fi connections with others is not new. I suggested that people place the two characters ")(" at the beginning of their SSID string to show that the hotspot is open, though I've yet to see anyone do that.
The big challenge, of course, is keeping malefactors from either cracking your home network or doing obnoxious things through your connection. Details on what all the Fon firmware update does are still a little thin, but one hopes that it draws on the experience of others in creating "captive portals" and heavily isolates the local network from passers-through. Solving IP impersonation (spammers and illegal file traders) is tougher, and I don't see anything on the Fon site that addresses the issue. Much worse (especially on the US side of the pond) is the fact that most residential ISPs forbid the sharing of their broadband connections with others. If Fon catches on to any extent at all, this will become an issue. We'll just have to watch.
It's a cool idea, and I love the three little icons on the Fon home page, for Bills, Linuses, and Aliens. I don't intend to join (I'm actually not live with Wi-Fi right now-CAT 5E in the walls here!) but if any of you do, I'd love to get some reports on how well the system works, and how many people use it.