Wi-Fi: Be the first on your block to have a free hotspot
Finally, a big communications outfit gets it.
Unexpectedly, given how out of it it's looked given the difficult time it's had since taking over Adelphia, Time Warner Cable "will let its home broadband customers turn their connections into public wireless hotspots, a practice shunned by most U.S. internet service providers." The giant cable service provider has made a deal with the Iberian upstart Fon (see Impractical Proposals: Fon challenging Starbucks wi-fi), which has forged similar agreements with ISPs across Europe.
"For Fon,...the deal will boost its credibility with U.S. consumers," according to Business Week. "For Time Warner Cable, which has 6.6 million broadband subscribers, the move could help protect the company from an exodus as free or cheap municipal wireless becomes more readily available.
"Fon was founded in Spain in 2005 on the premise that people shouldn't have to pay twice -- once at home, then again in a coffee shop -- for internet access. At first, the company offered software that let members, called Foneros, turn wi-fi routers into shared access points, but it took hours to get up and running.
"In the fall of 2006, Fon, which counts Google Inc. and eBay Inc.'s Skype among its investors, started selling and sometimes giving away its own branded wireless router, called La Fonera. Since then, it has distributed about 370,000 of them worldwide."
The rest of the story: Business Week.
Unexpectedly, given how out of it it's looked given the difficult time it's had since taking over Adelphia, Time Warner Cable "will let its home broadband customers turn their connections into public wireless hotspots, a practice shunned by most U.S. internet service providers." The giant cable service provider has made a deal with the Iberian upstart Fon (see Impractical Proposals: Fon challenging Starbucks wi-fi), which has forged similar agreements with ISPs across Europe.
"For Fon,...the deal will boost its credibility with U.S. consumers," according to Business Week. "For Time Warner Cable, which has 6.6 million broadband subscribers, the move could help protect the company from an exodus as free or cheap municipal wireless becomes more readily available.
"Fon was founded in Spain in 2005 on the premise that people shouldn't have to pay twice -- once at home, then again in a coffee shop -- for internet access. At first, the company offered software that let members, called Foneros, turn wi-fi routers into shared access points, but it took hours to get up and running.
"In the fall of 2006, Fon, which counts Google Inc. and eBay Inc.'s Skype among its investors, started selling and sometimes giving away its own branded wireless router, called La Fonera. Since then, it has distributed about 370,000 of them worldwide."
The rest of the story: Business Week.
posted by John Gabree at 24.4.07
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