50% off FON Boxes with Voucher Code

[Addie]

For those of you who are interested in becoming part of the FON scheme of 15,000,000 free WiFi hotpots across Europe, there is an offer of 50% off a new Fonera box.

This makes the box just €19.50 - about £15.30 including delivery.

1.) Visit: https://shop.fon.com/en/products/all

2.) If prompted type 'United Kingdom'

3.) Press 'BUY' next to the Fonera @ €39.00

4.) When prompted, enter the voucher code NEWFONERA50

5.) Checkout, pay and wait for it to be delivered

You will also see an item called the 'GramoFon' listed for €49.00. You don't want this product UNLESS you already use Spotify (music player) and know what it is. Basically its the same as FON but also has a 3.5mm socket in the reverse to add some external speakers so you can stream Spotify from your laptop/iPad wirelessly to speakers. It's just to try and get more people interest in FON - I'd leave it alone unless you already use Spotify and think you might benefit from the feature.

Not sure what you're buying or what FON is? Checkout our guide here:
Broken Link Removed

Hope this is of interest to some of you

 

[hilldweller]

Oh dear, not worth if for Italy.

 

[chaser]

Wasn't going to comment, but seeing as hill dweller has, I know I always seem to knock things, but my experience of bt fon is very far from good, in fact I would avoid it like the plague, never connected to it in five weeks in France, far better get yourself a 3 sim for a tenner and put £15 credit on it and get free calls texts and unlimited internet for a month, and believe me , I'm as surprised as anyone, I never found anywhere it hadn't got a signal in France.

 

[hilldweller]

never connected to it in five weeks in France

That's odd, the French map is saturated with FONs. Only one that is.

 

[Addie]

Wasn't going to comment, but seeing as hill dweller has, I know I always seem to knock things, but my experience of bt fon is very far from good, in fact I would avoid it like the plague, never connected to it in five weeks in France

With respect chaser, going by the original threads which I contributed the reason you couldn't connect wasn't due to not being able to find a signal but that your BT login credentials were not being accepted. Something that a FON box avoids.

I agree - the Three deal is great - although not unlimited, but 25GB and limited to your phone only since tethering is not permitted. If you are doing data intensive tasks such as video on your laptop or other devices or downloading files and updates then a FON connection can be very worthwhile.

The feedback we get is overwhelmingly great - I would not be recommending if that wasn't the case. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you with your BT Broadband logins.

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[arao99]

A great deal Addie, but to late for me i bought one in the summer and have used bt fon in this country and Fon in France quite a few times.

 

[Wombles]

As we have BT broadband we get Fon access free as part of the package & had no problems using it.

 

[chaser]

With respect chaser, going by the original threads which I contributed the reason you couldn't connect wasn't due to not being able to find a signal but that your BT login credentials were not being accepted. Something that a FON box avoids.

I agree - the Three deal is great - although not unlimited, but 25GB and limited to your phone only since tethering is not permitted. If you are doing data intensive tasks such as video on your laptop or other devices or downloading files and updates then a FON connection can be very worthwhile.

The feedback we get is overwhelmingly great - I would not be recommending if that wasn't the case. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you with your BT Broadband logins.

Addie, I am sorry and am not going to keep on with this, but I followed your instructions and did in fact get it to work, my point now is you just can't find a connection, anywhere out in the country, ok , I know you will say I need one of your gizmos to get a better signal, but just don't think its anywhere near as good as the three thingy or any amount of other free internet, in cafes and tourist offices and others all over the place.

 

[Techno]

Works OK for me and I even found FON whilst walking around Wissant
Often found just off main streets

 

[Don Quixote]

Wasn't going to comment, but seeing as hill dweller has, I know I always seem to knock things, but my experience of bt fon is very far from good, in fact I would avoid it like the plague, never connected to it in five weeks in France, far better get yourself a 3 sim for a tenner and put £15 credit on it and get free calls texts and unlimited internet for a month, and believe me , I'm as surprised as anyone, I never found anywhere it hadn't got a signal in France.

I used all over France July/August without problem in nearly every village and town. Used with the iBoost system bought from Addie. I have also used it in UK, Germany and here in Spain. I have the fon plug in at home and my neighbours whilst visiting their holiday home use it or pay to use it.

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[tonka]

Today I have had an email off Fon, basically saying that the older boxes are being disconnected and to continue the service I should subscribe to BT.. !!!!!!!

Here it is.... So it looks like they are cutting me off.

Hello Fon member,

Since the launch of Fon in 2006 our mission has been to cover the world with WiFi, offering access and connectivity to a global network. Today we have over 13 million hotspots worldwide and we’re still growing. This past year we launched some great innovations including: the new social Fonera with Facebook login; the Gramofon, a WiFi device that turns your speakers into a WiFi music player; and our new solution for enterprises, Fon WiFi for Business.

For Fon to keep growing and innovating, we need to discontinue our service in some older devices, including your BT Fonera. From Broken Link Removed, we will be deactivating the Fon service on these small amount of devices that are still in use. However you can still use it as a WiFi router since the private signal will be working as it did until now.

In order to enjoy the Fon benefits and make the most of our ever-growing network of WiFi hotspots please subscribe to BT, our partner in the UK, to get the latest BT router fully compatible with Fon. You can also buy our latest Fonera - with the same sharing feature as your old device and also a new social layer with Facebook login. Use “NEWFONERA” as a promo code in the Fon Shop to get a 40% discount!

 

[Don Quixote]

I think they mean this one is going out:

and this one is the newer one they are replacing it with:

I could be wrong, but just checked on their web site and the one above is the newest style.

 

[Techno]

Yup I have that

 

[chaser]

Works OK for me and I even found FON whilst walking around Wissant
Often found just off main streets

I used all over France July/August without problem in nearly every village and town. Used with the iBoost system bought from Addie. I have also used it in UK, Germany and here in Spain. I have the fon plug in at home and my neighbours whilst visiting their holiday home use it or pay to use it.

Well these two posts seem to bear me up, tecno was surprised it worked in wisent, and don only used it in towns and villages and then with addies iboost

 

[Techno]

I don't think I said I was surprised.

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[Don Quixote]

Well these two posts seem to bear me up, tecno was surprised it worked in wisent, and don only used it in towns and villages and then with addies iboost

I have also used it with my iPhone so it does work well.

 

[TheBig1]

Thhankyou Addie, just ordered one. was planning to buy soon anyway so saved £15

 

[Minxy]

Soooooo ... this is all new to me but if I understand this correctly:

• you do NOT have to be a BT subscriber to use FON so long as you purchase a FON box
• you connect the FON box to your home internet (any provider) which then makes it available for others to use as a free wifi hotspot
  
• the data used by others is deducted from your data allowance however you can set limits on how much others can use
• when away you take your FON box with you and can then use the 'free wifi hotspots' others have set up, in various countries, subject to being in an area which can receive it

Is that about it? If so, what would be the benefit to using my '3' mobile broadband instead when away from home?

 

[Addie]

Q: You do NOT have to be a BT subscriber to use FON so long as you purchase a FON box
Correct.

Q: You connect the FON box to your home internet (any provider) which then makes it available for others to use as a free wifi hotspot
Correct.

Q: The data used by others is deducted from your data allowance however you can set limits on how much others can use
Correct. Although most people's home broadband is unlimited and the chances of anyone else using your FON is probably remote. I've had mine on 3 years, looking at the control panel its been logged into twice!

Q: When away you take your FON box with you and can then use the 'free wifi hotspots' others have set up, in various countries, subject to being in an area which can receive it.
Correct - so ideally for use from within a motorhome you would want to consider a WiFi booster to get maximum benefit.

If so, what would be the benefit to using my '3' mobile broadband instead when away from home?

Using FON you wouldn't be restricted on the amount of data you could download - so if you were a Three subscriber you could save your data allowance for use when you wasn't within a FON reception area. Lots of our customers use FON to stream video as and when the bandwidth allows - something you'd not want to be doing via Three.

At the end of the day it is up to the individual. If you only go to France and only send the odd e-mail then the Three deal is great. If you're an internet junky you're going to want to offload some of your data consumption onto a cheaper source - in this case FON.

 

[TheBig1]

Soooooo ... this is all new to me but if I understand this correctly:

• you do NOT have to be a BT subscriber to use FON so long as you purchase a FON box
• you connect the FON box to your home internet (any provider) which then makes it available for others to use as a free wifi hotspot
  
• the data used by others is deducted from your data allowance however you can set limits on how much others can use
• when away you take your FON box with you and can then use the 'free wifi hotspots' others have set up, in various countries, subject to being in an area which can receive it

Is that about it? If so, what would be the benefit to using my '3' mobile broadband instead when away from home?

mostly right....just you leave the fon box plugged in at home. connect to fon hotspots by wifi using your fon username and password

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[Minxy]

mostly right....just you leave the fon box plugged in at home. connect to fon hotspots by wifi using your fon username and password

Ah, so you don't need to take the box away ... I did read about leaving it switched on at home when away so others can benefit from it, but thought you still needed to take it away too ... confused.com!

As we don't have unlimited broadband at home, even though we've just signed up for landline based broadband (don't get me started on why for goodness sake .... grrr), obviously I wouldn't want others to be using loads of my allowance but obviously the whole premise of this is to 'share and share alike' so some availableility for others to use is 'morally' required.

 

[Techno]

Q: When away you take your FON box with you and can then use the 'free wifi hotspots' others have set up, in various countries, subject to being in an area which can receive it.
Correct - so ideally for use from within a motorhome you would want to consider a WiFi booster to get maximum benefit.

As The big 1 said above, you leave it at home. If you unplug it you will not be able to access other FON spots.
Not just morally, I believe they know if your spot is not connected.

 

[Minxy]

Q: The data used by others is deducted from your data allowance however you can set limits on how much others can use
Correct. Although most people's home broadband is unlimited and the chances of anyone else using your FON is probably remote. I've had mine on 3 years, looking at the control panel its been logged into twice!

Q: When away you take your FON box with you and can then use the 'free wifi hotspots' others have set up, in various countries, subject to being in an area which can receive it.
Correct - so ideally for use from within a motorhome you would want to consider a WiFi booster to get maximum benefit.

Thanks Addie, I've actually got a large wifi omnidirectional antenna which came from another company according to the sticker on it (their item no: WLO-2450-15 - I picked it up at a car boot sale), it came with a booster too but I'm not sure if it would be suitable for receiving wifi, this is the spec/info:

Antenna

The 2.4GHz OMNI 15dBi antenna with N female connector is 360° omni-directional and waterproof. It comes with pole mounting brackets. The signal range is about 1400 meter, line of sight.

◆ Frequency: 2400 - 2483MHz
◆ Gain: 15 dBi
◆ Polarization: Vertical
◆ Beamwidth deg: Horizontal 360° & Vertical 6°.
◆ VSWR: ≤ 1.5:1
◆ Impedance: 50 Ohm
◆ Length: H 1620 mm
◆ Weight: 900 g
◆ Connector: N-type / Female​

Booster

The booster appears to be this:​

https://www.radiolabs.com/products/wireless/wave-lite.php​

I'd appreciate your telling me if the above will this work with the FON or on it's own where there are free wifi signals.

 

[Minxy]

As The big 1 said above, you leave it at home. If you unplug it you will not be able to access other FON spots. Not just morally, I believe they know if your spot is not connected.

Just been reading a bit more about the FON box and it says:

A further benefit of the FON box is that the login credentials used to sign up for the box, in this case an e-mail address and password of your choosing, can then be used in 5 different locations simultaneously. So it’s possible that you could come to an arrangement with a family member or friend to place the FON box on their router and for you all to have the same benefits of access to the FON network.
​

So, is this how you then access the wifi when away, by leaving your box at home and turned on so that is 'location 1' and you being away would be 'location 2'? If so, what's to stop you 'sharing' it with a friend who's on holiday at any time, regardless of where you are? In effect you could come to an 'arrangement' with another person so they can get internet access abroad without it costing them a bean .. or have I got that wrong?

 

[Addie]

You're not really going to want to be using a 15dBi antenna in Omni-Directional form. That gives an incredibly narrow beam characteristic which means its only really suitable for use in a marine application or installation for broadcast use around a certain area. You would have far greater success with an lower 8dBi in most scenarios - there will only be very specific circumstances where the 15dBi will achieve a greater range.

The USB booster just looks like a generic low quality item - there is going to be some cable loss/noise to factor in too.

Will it work? Most probably yes - to a point.

But then so does a coat hanger as an FM radio in a 1980's Ford Escort

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[Addie]

So, is this how you then access the wifi when away, by leaving your box at home and turned on so that is 'location 1' and you being away would be 'location 2'? If so, what's to stop you 'sharing' it with a friend who's on holiday at any time, regardless of where you are? In effect you could come to an 'arrangement' with another person so they can get internet access abroad without it costing them a bean .. or have I got that wrong?

Home is not 'location 1'.

Your username and password you select during the registration process is what can be used in 5 different locations. You could share that with 5 people if you wished.

So if you were parked outside my house you could only use one device at a time on my FON hotspot (unless you had an iBoost for example). However 4 other people could be using your login details in 4 different locations (France, Germany, Portugal and Greece for arguments sake).

 

[canopus]

Fon is no good for Spain I take it from looking at the map. So what is available for Spain?

 

[Techno]

Stuttering site wifi hence multiple posts from those over there like BobnJanie

 

[Old Rascal]

Thanks for the info Addie. I have purchased one.

 

[Minxy]

So, is this how you then access the wifi when away, by leaving your box at home and turned on so that is 'location 1' and you being away would be 'location 2'? If so, what's to stop you 'sharing' it with a friend who's on holiday at any time, regardless of where you are? In effect you could come to an 'arrangement' with another person so they can get internet access abroad without it costing them a bean .. or have I got that wrong?

Home is not 'location 1'.

Your username and password you select during the registration process is what can be used in 5 different locations. You could share that with 5 people if you wished.

So if you were parked outside my house you could only use one device at a time on my FON hotspot (unless you had an iBoost for example). However 4 other people could be using your login details in 4 different locations (France, Germany, Portugal and Greece for arguments sake).

Ah, I understand now ... I did think that the possiblity of 5 people using it at the same time seemed like a MAJOR loop-hole!

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