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Fon: get behind me Google, Skype

Securing another round of financing for a startup isn't usually such a big deal, but when your product turns your WiFi'd Internet connection into a peer-to-peer VoIP network and the companies who are putting up the cash are Google and Skype (along with some VC firms), you look again. Fon, who's been operating fairly under the radar to date, is the company in question getting the big cash injection, presumably for their technology which allows you to roam the worldwide Fon network if you make your own router a node (or fonero as it were) on said network. If you're not operating your own fonero you can get access to the Fon network, but for a price (which will supposedly be split with the ISP). Derision for their P2P-like nature by Big Internet aside, we have a feeling with G and Skype behind them Fon'll be able to fight the good fight, but really, more than anything else right now we'd just be worried about them figuring out handoffs between WiFi nodes so you're not tethered to a single fonero. Well, that and uptake; it can be hard finding people rearin' to flash the firmware on their Linksys.

[Thanks, Giuppi]