Rumor becomes reality. Straight outta Madrid, Spain comes word that Time Warner Cable has inked a deal with Wi-Fi community FON allowing TWC subscribers to become FON community members and create FON access points with their home or business broadband connection. If you’re not familiar with FON, the idea is that you share your Wi-Fi with other community members and in return you can use theirs when you’re away from home.
You have to plunk down $39.95 for a La Fonera router, but joining the Foneros (community members) lets you connect to any member’s Wi-Fi hotspot for free around the globe, wherever there’s a participating ISP. The La Fonera router uses two separate Wi-Fi channels: one for the owner, one for Foneros. Public and anonymous users cannot access the encrypted Fonero network.
Want to find out where you can connect if you become a Fonero? Check out Fon Maps, a Google-Maps mash-up that lets you pinpoint access points, as in the image above.
Time Warner customers get Wi-Fi hotspots [Yahoo! News]
Glad to see some big names jumping on this idea. I’ve got a router, but disconnected it after hearing rumors of it violating my Comcast EULA. Too bad I can’t get TW where I live. Not sure if its true or not, about violating my EULA, but i didn’t want to get into any messy territory.
FON is an awesome service, but just lacking in user base. If it gets enough users, which I hope it does, this thing will go big.