BTand theWi-Fi community FONare aiming to build the
world's largest free Wi-Fi community.
The two companies have formed BT FON, and BT has now invested in
FON and will sit on its board alongside
Google,
Skype and other investors.
BT's three million-plus Total Broadband customers will be
invited to join the global community of people sharing their
broadband.
At launch, members will be part of an existing FON community of
500,000 members and will have access to more than 190,000 FON
hotspots worldwide.
Anyone joining in will be able to use those FON hotspots across
the world and all theBT FON hotspots free of charge. The move is a
big one by BT, currently under fire along with other Wi-Fi
providers, for charging too much for wireless access.
Under the FON plan, every person who agrees to share a small
portion of their home broadband connection, by opening up a
separate, secure channel on their wireless router, will be able to
share the connection of any other member.
BT Total Broadband customers will also be able to use BT's
premium existing hotspot network BT Openzone, including 12 Wireless
Cities.
Gavin Patterson, BT Group managing director for consumer
business, said, "We are giving our millions of Total Broadband
customers a choice and an opportunity. If they are prepared to
securely share a little of their broadband, they can share the
broadband at hundreds of thousands of FON and BT Openzone hotspots
today, without paying a penny."
Founded in February 2006 in Madrid, FON investors include
Google, Skype, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital and now BT. It has
over 500,000 members in Europe, Asia and America.