FON wireless router kit

  FON wireless router kit 
  Originally uploaded by BKMD.

This is the kit I received a few weeks ago from FON, a company based in Madrid. By connecting this to your broadband service you can offer both public and private Wi-Fi access. You can see the router is pretty small when you compare it to the size of the software CD in the photo. It even has one of those keyhole openings in back so that you could mount it on the wall.

This entitles you to free Wi-Fi when you travel, if you can find a FON hotspot. They do provide an online map to help you in this quest.

I'm not sure if your IP address is suspect if some public person should do something nefarious with your hotspot.

Today, Time Warner Cable is supporting FON, otherwise it's against most carriers TOSs.

Those sticky labels are for you to put in your window, if you so choose.

(Photo taken with the Nikon S10.)

Update: I decided to test the mapping service on their Web site by searching in the US for the ZIP code hoping to find some hotspots in Manhattan. You can see the hotspot illustrated by the green splotch. (That's the United Nations complex at the right border.) Unfortunately there are some miscues (click here or on the photo for a larger image). The building labeled as "Grand Central Terminal" isn't. It's really 2 blocks away at Lexington Avenue. And one of the text results listed is for an address in Sweden, and an entirely different ZIP code in Long Island City. And, after pushing the map around a bit, it doesn't seem to be a plethora of these hotspots available.

Tags: FON, Wi-Fi, Time Warner