Google and Skype in Startup to Link Hotspots

An anonymous reader writes "Google and Skype are investing in a new startup (FON, the Spanish startup) that plans to help hotspot owners charge for Wi-Fi access points. The plan outlines two different classes of customer; "Linus" members, named after Linus Torvalds, will share their hotspot with other Linus members for free and "Bill" members, named after Microsoft's Bill Gates, will charge for access to their hotspot. FON will get some of that revenue, and share it with ISPs."

Comments

Fantastic names

[TallGuyRacer]

Linus & Bill. I love it. Glad to know someone still has a sense of humour out there.

Re:Fantastic names

[agurkan]

I personally think Richard would be more appropiate than Linus. The freeness of Linux in particular and GNU/Linux in general comes from RMS's ideals, or more precisely his expression of some ideals common to many people. Linus has done a great job, but the antithesis of Windows is GNU.

Re:Fantastic names

[arodland]

Except that if it was up to Richard, we'd still be waiting to be able to boot the GNU system on more than two pieces of hardware. I'll take Linus on the "actions speak louder" principle. Which, if you think about it, applies perfectly well to this hotspot thing. It's about standing up for a certain standard (in this case, internet service) by demonstrating what you want and embodying the change and yadda yadda yadda.

Aliens

[Qwell]

The guys from FON were recently at ETel in San Francisco. There are also Aliens, which are the people who are willing to pay for access.

Linuses: People who will let others (Aliens and other Linuses) use their links, if they in turn can use other Linuses links.

Bills: People who will let others (Aliens) use their links, for a percentage of the profits.

Aliens: People who are willing to pay Bills to use their links (and since they pay, they can use Linuses links), but aren't willing to share their own connections.

For more information about the different types of users, see http://en.fon.com/info/linus-meet-bill-meet-an-ali en.php

Re:Aliens

[Zork the Almighty]

They should have called the Aliens "Steve".

Competition

[quokkapox]

I really don't see how Google and Skype are going to compete with the free Linksys hotspots that are already well-established in the marketplace.

I just don't understand what they could offer that would make me switch.

They can't compete on price, nor anonymity.

Re:Competition

[DJCacophony]

The idea is that they pay normal people to share their own access points (or in the case of "linuses", access is given out for free). While there may be wireless access available in alot of locations, if everybody who has an access point were to offer it, there would be alot more coverage.
Think about the residential areas where there isn't a borders or starbucks nearby: You could connect to a "bill" access point hosted by your average joe (provided you bought the subscription), bill gets paid, and google gets paid. While one may think that google is getting something for nothing, it offers a universal payment scheme for residential access points everywhere.
 
All this and I didn't even RTFA.

Re:Competition

[quokkapox]

The idea is that they pay normal people to share their own access points (or in the case of "linuses", access is given out for free). While there may be wireless access available in alot of locations, if everybody who has an access point were to offer it, there would be alot more coverage. Think about the residential areas where there isn't a borders or starbucks nearby: You could connect to a "bill" access point hosted by your average joe (provided you bought the subscription), bill gets paid, and google gets paid. While one may think that google is getting something for nothing, it offers a universal payment scheme for residential access points everywhere.

All this and I didn't even RTFA.

Hardly anybody RTFA. Mesh networks with multiple outlets to the general Internet threaten the entire status quo; the telecom companies fear this and that is exactly why we all need to promote it. Your ability to get your bits in and out of your neighborhood network is terrifying to the established telecom monopolies as well as the giant media companies. This is what we have to work to implement immediately.

What can they offer me I can't do myself?

[Diseage]

Right now I can share my Wi-Fi spot with anyone I want. The only real software here is the "Bill" version which would allow charging. And guess what? I can do the "Linus" version with any wireless router I please.

Re:geek pride

[Peter_Pork]

Agreed. The usual Deluxe and Premium please my macho pride much better.

And Balmer members..

[Pranjal]

And Balmer members will throw their wi-fi equipment at each other and threaten to fucking kill the linus members.

Liability?

[siwelwerd]

So if I sign up for this, and somebody using my connections downloads all sorts of illegal files, who is the RIAA going to sue? The obvious choice seems the subscriber of the internet connection which would be me. FON's website says "Am I responsible if a user uses my connection for any illicit activity? No. As long as you have not actively participated in the commission of a crime or do not have knowledge that a particular individual is using your connection to commit a crime or illegal activity, it is our understanding that you are not responsible. Nevertheless, this may vary depending on the laws of each country. Furthermore, FON discourages any inappropriate use of your connection by making sure that each user of the FON Community has registered and is identifiable." Not very reassuring to me.

"Steve" membership

[RCanine]

The "Steve" membership will cost twice as much as the "Bill" membership, but will require no configuration, have longer uptimes, and all of its interfaces will be so damn pretty.

22 million for this?

[Jivha]

Let me get this straight - Google, Ebay/Skype, Sequoia and Index are investing $22 million in a startup that

- aims to do something obvious("FON's idea is not entirely novel - in fact, several companies and associations have tried to tie together free Wi-Fi hotspots into networks, but no one has succeeded on a large scale.")
- doesn't yet have a plan on how to prevent the notoriously insular/suspicious ISP's from blocking this service("FON faces a hurdle in that most ISPs prohibit subscribers from sharing internet access with people outside their household")
- doesn't have the software for the "Bill"(read: paying) part of the idea for the next 4 months
- is going against the grain when it comes to wi-fi trends(wasn't Google itself planning to offer free wi-fi in SF?)
- is treading slippery legal ground here(consumers reselling their Internet connections to others)

But wait, Google is investing in it so I guess this really must be a great idea right?

Re:This is annoying

[Shihar]

Charging for wi-fi access is just plain selfish unlesss that is all you offer as a business. For example: Starbucks makes so much money selling drinks and other crap, they could easily give it away. Don't even give me that crap that people would sit all day and surf. Some would, but they would be in the vast minority. Most people buy their swill, bs with someone for a few and head into the adjoining bookstore.

The obvious response to this would be to not go to Starbucks. If you don't like that a business will not give you free internet access, don't shop there. This seems pretty brain dead simple to me. Hell, here in Boston there is a Starbucks and an ESR. ESR offers a free and open wi-fi access. Guess which place I buy my coffee from?

If the manager of Starbucks feels that offering free wi-fi will hurt business, then why should he do it? If he thinks he can make extra by charging for wi-fi, why not? If you don't like it, go some where else.

Re:geek pride

[nettdata]

Nope.

I think it's a great way to introduce people to Linux and the concept that there is something other than the "Microsoft Way".

Those of us that know what it means will chuckle, those of them that don't will ask "where'd the names come from?".

I think it's fantastic.

Sure as hell beats the standard marketing bullshit naming schemes that seem to be everywhere, IMO.

Re:This is annoying

[raju1kabir]

Starbucks makes so much money selling drinks and other crap, they could easily give it away. Don't even give me that crap that people would sit all day and surf. Some would, but they would be in the vast minority.

In this country (Malaysia), wifi is free at Starbucks. I don't really see anyone with a laptop who doesn't also have a drink-in-progress. People (myself included) order something every hour or so, and at those prices, that's surely keeping them in business.

After hours it's a different story. Many of the Starbucks near me have primarily outdoor seating, and when they shut at 1 or 2am, strange characters show up with decal-coated laptops and do mysterious things late into the night. If this really bothered the management, presumably they would turn off the access point or bring in the chairs at closing time.

Re:FON's website

[raju1kabir]

It still isn't too clear though on what the advantage is of having a "Linus" hotspot instead of just having it be open-access.

Are you sure you read the site? The reason to run a Linus hotspot is so that you will get reciprocal access to all the other Linus hostpots out there.

[And how did parent get modded informative? All it said was that the author didn't have any information to add.]