FON - free Wi-Fi worldwide

Following the publication of the post about how MTS cram the notorious FON into its routers, I became interested in this technology and I decided to tell Habra about it all.

The technology belongs to the Spanish company FON Wireless Ltd. In fact, the technology reached Russia back in 2008, and it was introduced by the MTS, and at the moment there are about 65 thousand access points in Moscow.

Introduction

The bottom line is that by purchasing a router with FON support and registering it on the manufacturer’s website, you can enjoy free Wi-Fi around the world - just connect to the network called FON-xxxx and enter the login and password received earlier. And if you are not a member of the program, but you need access to the Internet, you can buy access to the network.

Principle of operation

So, to the technology itself. the router creates two wireless networks - yours one, personal, access to which only you have. The second is the notorious FON-network, to which everyone can connect, or rather the program participants. On routers, there is an OpenWRT-based firmware, which means that any router can be turned into such an access point. I want to emphasize that FON cooperates with McAfee and constantly updates its security system (only for branded routers), which can be written into the advantages of the technology. When registering in a project, a user is assigned a certain rank.

User ranks

When registering, the participant is assigned a special status, which determines his abilities:
1) Linus (yes, it is named after Linus Torvalds): the participant has an active FON router, he provides access to his network and can access the Internet at any active FON access point.
2) Bill (again guessed, in honor you know whom): the participant has an active FON-router, it provides access to its network, can access the Internet at any active FON access point and (!) Can get up to 50% of the price of the pass purchased through his access point.
3) Alien: does not have a FON router, does not provide access to its network to the FON community. The “newcomer” can buy access to the FON network, receive information from the community and has an active payment account.
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Specifications of branded routers

Authentication: WEP 64bit / 128 bit, WPA, WPA2, WPA mixed;
Encryption: TKIP, AES, Mixed; Network standard: IEEE 802.11b / 802.11g (up to 54 Mbps);
Access points: one public (called FON_FREE_INTERNET by default) is not encrypted and one private (called MyPlace by default), encrypted with WPA-PSK;

findings

This is actually a useful thing if you regularly visit major cities in Europe or live in Moscow. But in Russia, outside the Moscow Ring Road, this technology, so far, has not taken root, although the idea is ingenious.

Useful links:

www.fon.com/ru - manufacturer's website
maps.fon.com - map of access points around the world
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FON - Wikipedia article (Eng.)
fonosfera.org - the site of the project Fonosfera, where you can download firmware for routers