FON is the name of a Wi-Fi community that uses social routing; its members share their wireless access and in return can freely use Wi-Fi when they find another Fonero’s Access Point. These access points are provided by other FOM members. FON is a peer-to-peer approach to Wi-Fi. To offer a FON Access Point you must use a 54 Mbps wireless router, called La Fonera, which is available from FON.
Those who belong to the FON community are called “Foneros” Within the group of Foneros there are three basic levels of membership:
- Linuses: those who share their Wi-Fi and in return can get free Wi-Fi when using a FON Access Point.
- Aliens: those who do not share their own WiFi but pay a fee to use a Fonero Access Point.
- Bills: those who make money from their Wi-Fi. Linuses earn a percentage of the fees that Aliens pay to use FON.
There is some controversy about FON and its services that mainly arise around the legal issues associated with Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Some Internet users who are Linuses members may be breaking their ISP terms of agreement as their ISP may not allow its users to share their Wi-Fi connections or resell their bandwidth.
