Europe Web Solution (No 2)

[jhbgaiem]

I have just found a great way of staying connected in Europe for a single payment of about €50.
All you need is a broadband router at home. You then buy a box from fon that connects to it. This splits your WIFI into two signals, one private and the other public. You can then share all the other fon connections wherever you are.There are more than 700 000.
As long as your own fon connection is active, the service is free. Only fon members can use it.
You can visit their site, buy the box and check out their map with all the connections country by country at:
FON
:thumb:

 

[Wildman]

does that mean leaving a computer at home switched on whilst away?

 

[jhbgaiem]

Fon

Not the computer - just the router

 

[bashers]

Surely you need to plan your next pitch/wildcamp before moving from your current connection?

Still need a backup 3G dongle to find your next Fon network

 

[Heyupluv]

I have just found a great way of staying connected in Europe for a single payment of about €50.
All you need is a broadband router at home. You then buy a box from fon that connects to it. This splits your WIFI into two signals, one private and the other public. You can then share all the other fon connections wherever you are.There are more than 700 000.
As long as your own fon connection is active, the service is free. Only fon members can use it.
You can visit their site, buy the box and check out their map with all the connections country by country at:
FON
:thumb:

Hi, JhBGaiem................have you got one ................is it working .............does it work in france ........have you tried in France.......where have you tried yours that is if you have one.........can seem to find map coverage of france.
Mel

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[scotjimland]

.........can seem to find map coverage of france.
Mel

Hi

go to the FON home page, top of screen, FIND WIFI..
type in City and Country

here is the screenshot for map for Calais

 

[Heyupluv]

Hi

go to the FON home page, top of screen, FIND WIFI..
type in City and Country

here is the screenshot for map for Calais

Jim…. found it after I had posted.....but thank you......Jim are we saying you have to be close to a don spot to connect like normal wifi hotspot or McDonnalds....or are we saying it is connecting like 3g on a mobile phone.................and surely this methods only works if all or majority are using don...but the majority will not even bother

Mel

 

[Heyupluv]

Hi

go to the FON home page, top of screen, FIND WIFI..
type in City and Country

here is the screenshot for map for Calais

Jim
I have said to Chris (the other half)...many many times why they don't make your normal wifi router allow other people to connect but still have all your computer private...in other words split like this is ...........makes sense

 

[scotjimland]

Jim…. found it after I had posted.....but thank you......Jim are we saying you have to be close to a don spot to connect like normal wifi hotspot or McDonnalds....or are we saying it is connecting like 3g on a mobile phone.................and surely this methods only works if all or majority are using don...but the majority will not even bother

Mel

Hi Mel

Works like normal WiFi hotspot .. each FON member shares their router.. looks like good idea .. and it has over 1,000,000 members world wide..
However, I looked at Mimizan and found none.. so it is patchy and couldn't be relied on, as the previous poster remarked, still need a G3 dongle as a back up .. but that's not a big issue..

Definitely worth considering .. try a few of your aire locations to see if they are any close..

jim

 

[American Dream]

I have just found a great way of staying connected in Europe for a single payment of about €50.
All you need is a broadband router at home. You then buy a box from fon that connects to it. This splits your WIFI into two signals, one private and the other public. You can then share all the other fon connections wherever you are.There are more than 700 000.
As long as your own fon connection is active, the service is free. Only fon members can use it.
You can visit their site, buy the box and check out their map with all the connections country by country at:
FON
:thumb:

A good idea initially but , as you may well be aware, ISPs are now monitoring users for "unacceptable usage" and if someone downloads a torrent or a hacker uses your connection you may well see your service terminated or get a knock on the door.

Try proving it wasn't you?

With that in mind, how do all these "free" wifi hot spots deal with this unless they have content filtering in place?

The only "unique" way would be to trace by MAC address but how then do you relate that against a user?

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[Heyupluv]

Hi Mel

Works like normal WiFi hotspot .. each FON member shares their router.. looks like good idea .. and it has over 1,000,000 members world wide..
However, I looked at Mimizan and found none.. so it is patchy and couldn't be relied on, as the previous poster remarked, still need a G3 dongle as a back up .. but that's not a big issue..

Definitely worth considering .. try a few of your aire locations to see if they are any close..

jim

Jim
I hear what you are saying ...but we do not have 3g phone, over here too expensive for 1 hour or 2 or contracts in france just to use the computer in the motorhome while we are away, so we would not be able to find where there is a fon spot near to connect.....oh well back to McDonalds...what has been the cheapest method for you to connect in France...........Mel

 

[Douglas]

I have had a look at the coverage map around where I live in south Wales, and all of the hot-spots are listed as BT Nodes, anyone know what a BT node is.

Doug...

 

[6pm Cowboy]

I have had a look at the coverage map around where I live in south Wales, and all of the hot-spots are listed as BT Nodes, anyone know what a BT node is.

Doug...

Not totally sure but I am on BT Internet at home and they run a version of Fon called BTFon which works in just the same way. Share your signal and you can share others free.

 

[Braunston]

Hi,

I used to be a Fonnero or something like that, had the FON router etc. I really do think its a great idea especially if you know exactly where you are going and you know there is a FON hot-spot within range as I do think we should share our wifi.

However that said i did find some problems,

(1) You have to leave the router on while you are away, and i don't leave any electrical appliances on when we go away for more than a week,

(2) The second problem i found was the positions shown on the maps were not as accurate and as easy to find as that big "M" for McDonald's, so you could find yourself driving slowly up and down a given road trying to find the FON signal which in a number of cases i couldn't find,

(3) Unless its changed, its worth checking the map closely as the symbols also show those FON connections which are turned off, albeit this may only be a temporary thing its still a problem if its off when you go looking for it, so double check

(4) I would suggest you just go out for a trial run and see actually how many of the live connections you can actually find as it could be very easy in your area, but when I tried some of the spots were just street/road names without actual house numbers, again this may have changed.

(5) The only other thing I would say is be careful in neighbourhood watch type areas as if you look a bit furtive while searching or sitting in one place for too long someone may report you which shouldn't be a problem but could be embarrassing.

Some of the items I have listed above may have changed as it was 2 years ago when i was using it, and again I do believe in the system of free exchange of wifi and would still be a member even with the items highligthed above, if i could overcome the problem of leaving the router turned on while we are away for extended periods of time, but i can't see that happening any time soon.

As I said at the top of the page, I think its a great idea if you know that there is a FON connection within range of where you are going to be as it does allow free exchange of wifi services throughout the world, check it out for yourself.

 

[lebesset]

strange how this has come up again ...i have belonged to FON for several years , and I posted here about it before now

I have 2 FON routers installed [ they are quite cheap, just plug into your existing router ]
one at my french house , which is switched off half the year , and I have installed purely to provide a hot spot for visiting members while I am here [ in the back of beyond ]; FON switch you off when you have been out of action for , if I remember correctly , 3 weeks , then automatically switches you back on when you return and plug in

the other is connected at my daughters house in the uk , is always on ...so I use my password from there , and of course I provide a hotspot there

with regard to people downloading DVD's etc , no way ! the public output is throttled down , ok for a bit of email/surfing , but that's all ...which is fair enough in my book

with regard to BTFON , great ! BT offered all their subscribers the option to download a firmware upgrade giving the fon type 2 signals without needing an additional router ...and loads of people [ probably the young ] have installed it .......so they can use FON anywhere amd we FONEROS [] can have the quid pro quo

FON started in spain so there are lot's there ...unfortunately , like the population, they tend to be highly concentrated , glut or famine

in france NEUF have joined the system ...unfortunately the french are a highly xenophobic nation and haven't joined in any great number , they can use other NEUF users wifi when they are in france and that is enough for them

all in all it is the greatest thing since sliced bread so far as I am concerned ,I just spent the summer motorhoming in the uk and I don't remember looking for a McD's once

for those of you who shut up shop for long periods and would get shut off ....isn't there anyone in your family with broadband [ doesn't even need to be wifi as the FON router provides that ] where you could install a FON router ; of course if they are BT subscribers they don't even have to do that , just opting in to BTFON is all that is required

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[Braunston]

Hi,

Have they started to put the actual house numbers on the maps now, only i had the devils own problem trying to find some of the FON signals, as some of them just had Post Codes which as you know cover a fair sized area and some of the others just had road names so I found myself driving very slowly up and down the road in some cases giving the signal finder time to keep refreshing to find the signal.

Has that problem changed, or have you found a way of overcoming it, only if it has then i may reconnect my router, ?

Thanks

strange how this has come up again ...i have belonged to FON for several years , and I posted here about it before now

I have 2 FON routers installed [ they are quite cheap, just plug into your existing router ]
one at my french house , which is switched off half the year , and I have installed purely to provide a hot spot for visiting members while I am here [ in the back of beyond ]; FON switch you off when you have been out of action for , if I remember correctly , 3 weeks , then automatically switches you back on when you return and plug in

the other is connected at my daughters house in the uk , is always on ...so I use my password from there , and of course I provide a hotspot there

with regard to people downloading DVD's etc , no way ! the public output is throttled down , ok for a bit of email/surfing , but that's all ...which is fair enough in my book

with regard to BTFON , great ! BT offered all their subscribers the option to download a firmware upgrade giving the fon type 2 signals without needing an additional router ...and loads of people [ probably the young ] have installed it .......so they can use FON anywhere amd we FONEROS [] can have the quid pro quo

FON started in spain so there are lot's there ...unfortunately , like the population, they tend to be highly concentrated , glut or famine

in france NEUF have joined the system ...unfortunately the french are a highly xenophobic nation and haven't joined in any great number , they can use other NEUF users wifi when they are in france and that is enough for them

all in all it is the greatest thing since sliced bread so far as I am concerned ,I just spent the summer motorhoming in the uk and I don't remember looking for a McD's once

for those of you who shut up shop for long periods and would get shut off ....isn't there anyone in your family with broadband [ doesn't even need to be wifi as the FON router provides that ] where you could install a FON router ; of course if they are BT subscribers they don't even have to do that , just opting in to BTFON is all that is required