Posted: 03rd Oct, 2007 By: MarkJ
The FON service, which allows people to share their Internet access with others via
Wi-Fi and optionally earn a commission for doing so, has finally launched its own wireless router.
Previously FON's service had been delivered through firmware modified Linksys (Cisco) routers, yet the new La Fonera+ is a more dedicated 54Mbps (g) based effort:
Our new router features make your WiFi experience even better. Four coloured LEDs show Foneros the status of all of your routers activities: whether its online, whether youre connected, or whether youre sharing WiFi with other Foneros. The La Fonera+ also comes with an additional Ethernet port. Now thanks to the two ports, you can share WiFi and use the router for connecting to your desktop computer, creating your own virtual network through your private FON signal (My Place) and share all of your information across them.
Finally, the La Fonera+ comes with an additional internal antenna specially designed to work with your La Fontenna. It gives great indoor coverage while you can use your La Fontenna to direct your WiFi signal towards other Foneros.
http://www.fon.com/enThe service may seem attractive but interested users should be warned that some UK ISP's do not take kindly to a customers bandwidth being shared in this manner. Not to mention that additional usage could cause problems if your provider has a usage limit or vague Fair Usage Policy (FUP).
Likewise nothing is 100% secure and sharing your Internet can make your setup even more obvious for a possible attack.