If you've never heard of Fon, its mission is pretty simple: to equip the world with Fonera routers, and thus blanket the planet in WiFi that no one is scared to share. Over at Mobile World Congress this week, the company unveiled a new device that exploits the impending bandwidth crisis that operators all over the globe are attempting to deal with. The all-new SIMPL is a palm-sized router that has just two Ethernet ports and could be doled out by carriers in order to provide a city-wide WiFi network that can be accessed by any WiFi-enabled phone, thereby easing the demand on its 3G network. Equipped with 802.11n, a faster CPU than the Fonera 2.0 and a shiny white shell, we're told that an order has already been placed by an undisclosed customer for 400,000 of 'em, though it's unclear when these will be made available to the general public and for how much. Hop on past the break for a five minute showcase video.
@XChrisX True..very true..the weird thing is that I thought peeks did not work outside the US but I just saw on their web site that they now offer it'l roaming for $60/month
I'm confused- where does the bandwidth behind the router come from? If it's city wide (thinking of metros like Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, etc), then it's going to need some sort of wideband signal like a cell-signal to power it's connection. That would defeat it's purpose. What am I missing?
@Palomino From the users' home connections. Install a Fon router in your home and let everybody use it and you'll be able to connect to everybody else's Fon routers anywhere in the world.
so let me get this straight. 1) big carrers offer new devices promissing speed 2) compete with each other with cheaper and cheaper service plans 3) realise: whoops - our network cant deliver what was promissed 4) hey - lets build devices that hook on the users wireless, have THEM pay for it and thus us being off the hook - yay.
every single person buying one of these devices has got to be out of their mind when it comes to understanding the basic task of a mobile service provider
@chsngdgt For many users, the choices are between bad (spent 100$ and get high speed data) or worse (do nothing and limp along with oversaturated Cell towers).
Sometimes one must compromise his or her position to reach a solution, even if it is the responsibility of a 3rd party.
@THJ i realize that. however: look at what can happen in the long run. have a whole city do that, and youve got yourself one lucky mobile service provider NOT seeing a reason in investing in their network in that particular spot.
@chsngdgt I don't think you realize that is if this occurs, you won't need a mobile service provider. Skype for calls, free data, kiss the service provider goodbye. When expanding this analogy you'd either travel to cities where you can or can't do the same thing, if you can't then you get a sim, pop it in, and pay for the plan (ideally the EU model).
@Guy This is probably going to be sold at around $39 or even cheaper. It really does only cost something like $20 to mass manufacture this Fonera SIMPL WiFi-N router. The telecom will bundle it for free with the purchase of a new Android or iphone, and I am sure they will sell it by itself as well, maybe even give them away to existing customers in promotions.
I never use WiFi outside of my own house because it's too annoying to connect to. In general you either need a password which has to be entered manually, or you have to connect to an unencrypted network from which any curious person can read anything that you read.
Then there's the third and absolute worst variety, which uses an unencrypted connection but requires you to manually enter a public password into your web browser to gain full internet access. On a laptop that's not such a big deal, but on a smartphone you've got tons of internet-connected programs running in the background and they're all going to be broken if you connect to that network and don't happen to be browsing the web at the time.
I would never be interested in a service like this unless Fon comes up with a way for my phone to automatically connect, but in a way that's encrypted so other people on that network can't read my emails. Maybe such a technology already exists somewhere out in the world, but I've never encountered it at any public hotspot.
@Chefgon You're right - the Holy grail is a seamless handoff to FON wifi when available. (maybe managed through a carrier profile? Not a communications tech, so not sure if that's even possible).
@Chefgon unencrypted browser based login is secure, nobody can read your emails or whatever because it is a mac-address specific browser session login also using https SSL protocol to generate secure cookie and whatever. This browser based login process with FON can be automated using a small app in Android or in the iPhone. So it just auto-connects to unencrypted FON hotspots, there is more than 1 million of those around the world.
I got a FON about 2 years ago and thought the concept was a good one. They give you a free wifi router and, if you agree to share it with others, you, in turn, get to access similarly from everyone else in their worldwide network. I think there was even an option to earn $ off making the signal available for a fee to those who want access that are not hosting a reciprocal site. The connection is secure so it strikes me as a great win-win. On the downside, I put mine (wireless G) in a suburban home. Constrained to the unit's limited range, no one could reach my shared signal unless they drove on my lawn... (and they can't do that 'cause that where all my cars are parked!) Lastly, with Verizon and AT&T increasingly making their hotspot networks now free to customers... seems like the need for this may be lessening. Nonetheless, I think their heart's in the right place.
The fact is, many highly credible people are saying that Fon issues questionable information to the press, delivers underperforming products, has fallen way behind in following up trouble tickets, and generally dissapoints. People should know this before they purchase Fon's hardware.
See my blog at elfonblog.fondoo.net for an analysis of Fon's data.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
posted February 19th 2010 11:29AM
Why is there a peek in background?
@jalapeno Why do Peeks even exist period?!
@XChrisX True..very true..the weird thing is that I thought peeks did not work outside the US but I just saw on their web site that they now offer it'l roaming for $60/month
@jalapeno
Its a FonPeek or PeekFon or something like that.... another Fon product
@davidjw
aka an EU version of the Peek (sort of)
@davidjw Cool, I didn't know about the FonPeek, maybe I can use my dust-gathering Peek when I go to Europe.
Oh man look at that tweet peek
I'm confused- where does the bandwidth behind the router come from? If it's city wide (thinking of metros like Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, etc), then it's going to need some sort of wideband signal like a cell-signal to power it's connection. That would defeat it's purpose. What am I missing?
@Palomino From the users' home connections. Install a Fon router in your home and let everybody use it and you'll be able to connect to everybody else's Fon routers anywhere in the world.
Wouldnt it be cheaper and better to upgrade your network instead of investing in wifi, which is made for small coverage areas?
@kopmis technically this is an investment. Albeit a short term one, and not one that users like us are looking for.
so let me get this straight.
1) big carrers offer new devices promissing speed
2) compete with each other with cheaper and cheaper service plans
3) realise: whoops - our network cant deliver what was promissed
4) hey - lets build devices that hook on the users wireless, have THEM pay for it and thus us being off the hook - yay.
every single person buying one of these devices has got to be out of their mind when it comes to understanding the basic task of a mobile service provider
@chsngdgt For many users, the choices are between bad (spent 100$ and get high speed data) or worse (do nothing and limp along with oversaturated Cell towers).
Sometimes one must compromise his or her position to reach a solution, even if it is the responsibility of a 3rd party.
@THJ i realize that. however: look at what can happen in the long run. have a whole city do that, and youve got yourself one lucky mobile service provider NOT seeing a reason in investing in their network in that particular spot.
@chsngdgt I don't think you realize that is if this occurs, you won't need a mobile service provider. Skype for calls, free data, kiss the service provider goodbye. When expanding this analogy you'd either travel to cities where you can or can't do the same thing, if you can't then you get a sim, pop it in, and pay for the plan (ideally the EU model).
I hope that FON makes this available to Foneros for cheaper than the current FON 2.0 (which is currently $100 USD.)
@Guy This is probably going to be sold at around $39 or even cheaper. It really does only cost something like $20 to mass manufacture this Fonera SIMPL WiFi-N router. The telecom will bundle it for free with the purchase of a new Android or iphone, and I am sure they will sell it by itself as well, maybe even give them away to existing customers in promotions.
I never use WiFi outside of my own house because it's too annoying to connect to. In general you either need a password which has to be entered manually, or you have to connect to an unencrypted network from which any curious person can read anything that you read.
Then there's the third and absolute worst variety, which uses an unencrypted connection but requires you to manually enter a public password into your web browser to gain full internet access. On a laptop that's not such a big deal, but on a smartphone you've got tons of internet-connected programs running in the background and they're all going to be broken if you connect to that network and don't happen to be browsing the web at the time.
I would never be interested in a service like this unless Fon comes up with a way for my phone to automatically connect, but in a way that's encrypted so other people on that network can't read my emails. Maybe such a technology already exists somewhere out in the world, but I've never encountered it at any public hotspot.
@Chefgon You're right - the Holy grail is a seamless handoff to FON wifi when available. (maybe managed through a carrier profile? Not a communications tech, so not sure if that's even possible).
@Chefgon unencrypted browser based login is secure, nobody can read your emails or whatever because it is a mac-address specific browser session login also using https SSL protocol to generate secure cookie and whatever. This browser based login process with FON can be automated using a small app in Android or in the iPhone. So it just auto-connects to unencrypted FON hotspots, there is more than 1 million of those around the world.
ET FON HOME
Fonera gadgets are the most creepy in the world.
Please look on their blog for more info: blog.fonosfera.org
OMG some one bought a peek
I got a FON about 2 years ago and thought the concept was a good one. They give you a free wifi router and, if you agree to share it with others, you, in turn, get to access similarly from everyone else in their worldwide network. I think there was even an option to earn $ off making the signal available for a fee to those who want access that are not hosting a reciprocal site. The connection is secure so it strikes me as a great win-win.
On the downside, I put mine (wireless G) in a suburban home. Constrained to the unit's limited range, no one could reach my shared signal unless they drove on my lawn... (and they can't do that 'cause that where all my cars are parked!) Lastly, with Verizon and AT&T increasingly making their hotspot networks now free to customers... seems like the need for this may be lessening.
Nonetheless, I think their heart's in the right place.
Fonera SIMPL? They couldn't afford the extra 'E' or do they miss the RAZR?
Sorry, Engadget. YOU MISSED THE REAL STORY.
Fon CEO Martin Varsavsky announced his new router, and that his company had terminated support for almost every previous model of Fon router. Some of which are less than a year old, and possess unstable firmware that the Fon Community have been futilely trying to motivate Fon to fix. Foneros descended upon Martin's personal blog to register their complaints. See the comments here for more information, and to see Martin's limp response: http://english.martinvarsavsky.net/general/fon-to-unveil-new-fonera-at-mobile-world-congress.html http://english.martinvarsavsky.net/general/fonera-2-0n-quality-survey.html http://spanish.martinvarsavsky.net/general/la-calidad-de-la-fonera-2-0n-encuesta.html
The fact is, many highly credible people are saying that Fon issues questionable information to the press, delivers underperforming products, has fallen way behind in following up trouble tickets, and generally dissapoints. People should know this before they purchase Fon's hardware.
See my blog at elfonblog.fondoo.net for an analysis of Fon's data.
Here's a scan of the QR code in the video. It's a link to this page: http://jp.fon.com/a/440030/b83c8