Using FON abroad

mobeydick

mobeydick

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So, FON (www.fon.com) as stand-alone or part of a BT broadband package, looks interesting. In theory, free Wifi Internet access from tens of thousands of Wifi routers around the world: some I guess near water.

Has anybody tried it, while travelling?
 
Yes works for me in Calais but not by the marina. There are more and more places being added so it might get better.
 
Do you use BT or direct with Fon?

I would have thought FON + long distance Wifi aerial would be ideal for long term cruisers..
 
Excuse ignorance, what's a long distance wifi aerial? We're not using wifi at home, but could do so. Going sailing France/Med for 3-4 months and looking for an internet access solution. Was looking at a dongle and roaming charges - we mostly need access to a text site so 1mb month may do it and that would cost £13. But would this FON thing be better/possible?
 
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Excuse ignorance, what's a long distance wifi aerial?

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It's essentially an antenna that's mounted remotely and connects to a Wifi PCMCIA or USB adapter. Obviously these need to have an antenna connector, which many do no.

The antenna itself can range from a simple stubby perhaps up the mast to a highly directional YAGI or Dish. There are commercial 'active' antennas than incorporate the WiFi adpater and just plug into USB (£100+ region).

Roaming with a dongle will be expensive in France, unless you get into the minefield of local SIMS.

FON is essentially like using someones unsecured WiFi, but with their permission. GOOGLE it to find out all the details, but finding an access point is likely to be just as hit-and-miss as looking for any unsecured source, and range will only be a few hundred meters.

Vic
 
FON have a map of available 'hot spots', so it is less 'hit and miss'.

Just to be clear, the FON hotspots are not like normal unsecured ones - you have to be registered to use them.

The Wifi extender aerials claim distances of Kms, but at least the reports I have heard are that you can often see 'many' (10-20) hotspots whereas without the aerial you would only see 1-2. So the chances of one being a FON one would be reasonable.
 
You have to be registered to use them free - but apparently if you see one you can somehow log on and buy a voucher to use them. I wanted to get into this but no time before we set off ... so I'm hoping to try it with a voucher if we come across a hotspot. And if we don't - well I'll have learned something.
 
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