Time Warner partners with FON, customers to get free WiFi
By Darren Murph 
posted Apr 23rd 2007 10:55AM
posted Apr 23rd 2007 10:55AM
Just like it has in so many other instances, Fon has coaxed yet another company into signing the line, and this time it's Time Warner (parent company of AOL, which owns Engadget) taking the bait. While the two firms had been in talks for some time regarding a potential partnership, today the duo made things official by announcing that "Time Warner Cable subscribers could become Fon community members and create Fon access points via their home or business broadband connection." Additionally, "the same subscribers would enjoy free WiFi access around the world, wherever Fon has partner ISPs," but the bulk of said partners sadly aren't found on American soil. Still, you won't find us bickering about free internet access, but for those anxious to hear details about this endeavor, it sounds like they'll be testing your patience; there was no word as to how soon TWC customers would be able to join the Fon bonanza, but we're sure that bombarding your local office with these inquiries could get the ball rolling.
How about Time Warner partnering with themselves to make their lame cable network better. I think that is a much better place to start. Take Comcast with you on this trip too.
Think A LA CARTE pricing for starters.
Hey Optimum! Cablevision. Dolan people.
Cut the same deal, please!
The Starbucks/T-Mo network is who REALLY needs to sign-up for Fon. Their coverage is huge given the number of Starbucks that there are.
Ok, call TWC what you will, but do you see what this MEANS? This means that communities that are covered by TWC will essentially become WIFI communities. Who is going to pass up free WIFI? No one. This is better than Google's little thing to make free WIFI available, because the infrastructure is already there.
This could be the best move TWC could have made. Or any company for that matter.
Whole TOWNS will suddenly become WIFI enabled. Business will likely jump on the bandwagon, and then you'll have free WIFI just about everywhere. The TWC coverage map will begin dictating way points on my next trip.
Mark my words, this will change things...
You should take a look at the FON infrastructure, YOU won't get free wifi anywhere unless you're sharing your internet connection. TWC is just saying, hey guys, its ok to sell your cable. This will change very little
Im excited with this news myself.. I wannna know when I can start being involved with FON.. This is the first of heard of it, but I sure cant wait for this to grow..
Pretty sure if you use this Fon crap you have to allow others to access it and no thanks.
I am a TWC user and have been with FON for a few months now so I'll give a short explanation about the whole FON deal.
Each FON router sends out two signels. 1 is locked with a 10 digit code found on the bottom of the router itself (aka MYPLACE SSN) and a second one that is free to the FON world (aka FON_US SSN)
both have the same signal strength in my experience (works 3 houses down the lane in my case). I'm happy with it and unlike a certain netgear router I have yet to see it overheat at all even after a few 48 hour p2p runs (Yay Fedora Core)
Anyways to sum it up "akijikan" it's not crap, just a good router
Also, I am not sure how TWC will be running it, but when you get a FON router, the public signal charges $2 for 24hr access, and you get half (one buck). In TWC's case, I am sure that they will be getting the buck, but what the hell...
Also, if you are worried about people using the router, paying the two bucks, doing bad stuff, and leaving the blame to you... I am sure TWC and FON have thought about this, and I am sure there is a way for TWC to be able to figure that out...
FON's online map that lets you search for a punto de acceso (hotspot) sometimes gives strange results:
I'll try that URL again:
http://billkosloskymd.typepad.com/wirelessdoc/2007/04/fon_wireless_ro.html
It's Official:
With nearly 60,000 FON community members in the U.S. alone, FON is the largest WiFi network in the United States. Hotspot providers are FON community members (called Foneros) who share their unused bandwidth via a FON router in exchange for free WiFi access when roaming through any other FON access point.
http://news.taume.com/Technology/Tech-Deals/Time-Warner-Cable-Partners-With-FON--To-Enables-Free-WiFi-Access-1046
I've been using FON with Time Warner since July '06 so I suppose this is a moot point for me. I didn't join FON for the "FON community" but instead for the cheap (and hackable) router, which was a modded Linksys WRT that they subsidized to less than ten bucks with shipping (I haven't hacked it yet). Now they have their own 'Fonero' router model.
It seems to me that Time Warner wants to co-op, or at least stave off, the growth of free municipal wireless that Google has already offered to San Francisco (http://tinyurl.com/ba9sk) and probably has threatened to expand if the telecom/cable Co's don't take Net Neutrality seriously. Never mind the other, ad-supported, forms of free wireless internet (Whatsup, 'M2Z' : http://tinyurl.com/2rby3w ; Whatsup, 'Anacapa' : http://tinyurl.com/22697z) that also threaten the traditional business model of internet/communications delivery.
I mean, if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em off, right?
Oh yea, don't forget WiMax as a viable skip over cable/dsl service. (Whatsup, ClearWire - just wikipedia 'Clearwire').
It seems as though this multitude of new-model ISP start-ups will fight the traditional telcos in a style akin to Gulliver's Travels: tying down a sleeping giant with a hundred little ropes.
Also, Google was one of the first companies to give significant venture-capital to FON, and still does. I wonder if Time Warner knows this...Perhaps they do, and FON is a small flashpoint, a proxy war if you will, in the growing cold war between content providers and telcos first begun by net neutrality.
Maybe I'm being a little too melodramatic over the delivery of data packets. Sorry for the long post.