Just when it seems there is no area left untouched by the sharing economy—which has made cars, apartments, and even clothes communal objects—a new trend emerges. This time, it's shared Wi-Fi signals.
Wireless network Fon on Wednesday introduced its home Wi-Fi router, the $59 Fonera, in the United States after building up Wi-Fi hot spots across Europe and Asia. The router splits a wireless signal into two—one for your own home use, and a secondary, smaller slice for other Fonera users.
If you sign up for Fonera, which offers free lifetime membership with the purchase of a router, you join a network of more than 12 million Wi-Fi hotspots around the world. If you find a fellow user's signal in the area, you just enter your Fonera username and password to connect to their home network. The company added an option to log in with Facebook as part of its U.S. launch.
Community Wi-Fi
Fon isn't a broadband service provider. It piggybacks on your existing service, but securely splits the wireless signal into separate, password-protected pieces—one for your use, and one for your community to use.
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