Fon is such a success that every week new options are born based on it. The last one has been created in France and is called KillBills. It offers a system that anyone can use in order to allow access to his wi-fi network without the risks of just opening it. If you want to use it, you need a Linksys WRT54G router and download the KillBills firmware.
Fon’s clones, more or less similar, start to show up. The latest one to appear is TLibre and it will operate in Marseilles with a wi-fi network based on the users’ hotspots. It’s different from Fon in the fact that users will have to pay 5 euros per month to be part of the system, in exchange of unlimited phone calls.
The Galician firm Softgal (Software Services of Galicia) has been the successful bidder to win A Estrada Dixital’s telecommunications network for 567.000 euros. According to La Voz de Galicia (The Voice of Galicia, a local newspaper), the offer includes both wimax and mesh in order to cover the whole town of A Estrada. Wimax will be implemented in the distribution network, to which 12 wi-fi links will be hooked, apart from the other 20 links that will cover the town centre.
The North American company 2hotspot.com is offering a free software to create both free access and pay-per-use wi-fi zones. This programme allows us to create different types of hotspots: free access ones, shared ones (they allow us to share the costs of the connection depending on how much do users connect) and pay-per-use ones.
This is an exhaustive article published in El Mundo about hospitals that are installing wi-fi aerials in order to improve their services to their patients. Thanks to wireless Internet connections, they can access to medical records quicker and from any point of the hospital, and they can also send prescriptions directly to the pharmacy.
Fon has come to an agreement with Neuf Cegetel, one of the main Internet providers in France, with 1.2 million ADSL clients. Soon, users will have Fon’s software in their routers, so that they’ll become Fon hotspots.
IHacked.com has created a tutorial to hack the Xbox in order to equip it with wi-fi connections. But watch out! One needs advanced knowledge of computing DIY. However, with this type of connection, the Xbox could become a powerful competitor to the other game console companies.
We are tracking with interest the news that arrive from the United States about city councils that decide to create their own wi-fi networks. We have to point out that they do it because broadband Internet access in the USA isn’t as available as in Europe and, therefore, prices are slightly higher.
Paradox of the information society. The number of laptops with wi-fi stolen in the Silicon Valley is increasing at the same rate as the figure of wi-fi hotspots. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, these computers can be connected to the Internet immediately.
The news has caused panic, even though it’s not that bad. Google has registered several patents of a commercial product,theadvertising-funded wi-fi, in the USA. In truth, the search engine aims to protect three technologies that allow offering Internet wireless access while showing ads of the type of GoogleAds.