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UK Wi-Fi service company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fon Wireless Ltd. is a for-profit company incorporated and registered in the United Kingdom that provides wireless services. Fon was founded in Madrid, Spain, in 2006, by Martín Varsavsky. Today, the company is headquartered in Bilbao. [1] [2]
This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (December 2013) |
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Computer hardware Wi-Fi service |
Founded | 2006 |
Founder | Martín Varsavsky |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Alex Puregger, CEO |
Products | Wi-Fi technology and Access |
Number of employees | 150 |
Website | fon |
Fon started out by building its Wi-Fi network through devices called "foneras". Members, whom the company called "Foneros", agreed to share a part of their bandwidth as a Wi-Fi signal, so that they could connect to other members' hotspots.[citation needed]
As the company evolved, it shifted its focus to working with mobile operators and telecommunication providers, and expanded from deploying residential Wi-Fi to providing access and technology to carriers and service providers. Fon claims to operate a network of over 20 million WiFi hotspots.[citation needed]
In April 2021, Fon was acquired by Agile Content, a provider of over-the-top media services from Barcelona.[3]
As of 2016, Fon website indicated it had branch offices in the United States, UK, Japan and Brazil. Its investors included Atomico Ventures, Google, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital Skype, Qualcomm Ventures, Coral Group and telecom partners BT Group and Deutsche Telekom. [needs update] .[4]
Originally, the company intended to create a network for Wi-Fi access wherever customers went. To become a Fon member, users had to buy a special router called “Fonera”. With this router, they agreed to share a part of their bandwidth as a second Wi-Fi signal, in exchange for the right to use other Fon members' hotspots. To achieve this, Fon operated a system of dual access wireless networks. In 2007, Fon's development model shifted to encompass ISPs, and it began to work on creating Wi-Fi community networks with British Telecom (BT) and SFR. [citation needed] In November 2007, Fon deployed its first Wi-Fi rollout and continued using this foundation with more telco partners in the years to come. [citation needed]
Since its initial involvement with ISPs, Fon continued to expand its network through partnerships with local Internet service providers in countries such as Germany, Greece , Japan, and Brazil among others. [citation needed]
In 2016 the company evolved to also include premium networks such as airports, hotels, convention centers, public spaces. [citation needed] Fon also has a technology to allow providers to deliver services to their own customers. [citation needed]
In 2020, Deutsche Telekom announced that it would be discontinuing its hotspot sharing service, citing the discontinuation of Fon's service, which had been the underlying platform for the product. [5] In the following three years, all partnerships (for "Fon Wi-Fi Community") were terminated. [citation needed]
The Fonera routers are end-of-life products. [citation needed]
Fon initially operated with a software that could be downloaded for compatible routers, mainly Linksys routers. The firmware for this service was based on OpenWrt. The firmware had been customized specifically for use in the Fon Community, allowing consumers to share their broadband connection and to connect to other Fon Spots around the world. [citation needed]
Fon firmware creates two different Wi-Fi signals: one private and one public.[6]
The new 2014 Fonera SIMPL, introduced in February 2014, includes Facebook integration. The owner of the Fonera SIMPL may register their own Facebook account with the device. Once this is done, any user that is a 'Facebook Friend' of the owner is granted access to that Fonera (only).[7]
The 'Fonera Business' takes Facebook integration further by offering free WiFi to customers of a business who are asked to 'Like' the Facebook page for the business in order to gain free WiFi access.[8]
In early 2018, Fon's online shop was closed. [9]
Fon claims to have the largest Wi-Fi network in the world, with over 20 million hotspots as of June 2016.[10][11]
Since 2020, most Fon partnerships had ended or entered a terminating phase.
Partners integrate FON-Wifi in the firmware of the existing customer routers (CPE). Only a few partners sold "Fonera" routers, but with their own company login credentials.
Country | Company | Begin | End | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK | BT Group (formerly known as British Telecom) | 04.10.2007 | 2020 | Continues with its own local Wifi sharing initiative "EE WiFi" (formerly "BTwifi") ; Critic: no communication about end of service |
France | SFR (formerly known as Neuf Cegetel) | 2007[12] | 1.5.2023[13] | |
Portugal | NOS (formerly known as ZON) | 2008 | 11.03.2020 [14] | Continues with its own local Wifi sharing initiative "NOS_Wi-Fi", until 13.08.2021[15] |
Japan | SoftBank | 01.02.2021[16] | sold Fonera devices. ; Since 2010: free "Fonera"-Router for every sold Smartphone | |
Brazil | Oi | 31.10.2011[17] | at least 2022[18] | |
Belgium | Proximus (formerly known as Belgacom) | 11.2011[19] | 2018[20] | Continues with its own local Wifi sharing initiative [21] |
Poland | Netia | 28.02.2012[22] | 2018[23] | |
the Netherlands | KPN | 2014[24] | 1.8.2020.[25] | |
Germany | Deutsche Telekom (DT) | 06.03.2013[26] | >2021[27] | |
Croatia | Hrvatski Telekom (HT) (subsidiary of DT) | Spring 2013[28] | fading out?[29] | sold Fonera device[30] |
Greece | Cosmote (subsidiary of DT) | February 2014 [31] | slowly closing[32] | |
Romania | formerly Telekom Romania (formerly subsidiary of DT) | 02.07.2014 | ||
Hungary | Magyar Telekom (subsidiary of DT) | 5.4.2016[33] | 01.09.2020 [34] | (the 17th country that join the Fon network) |
South Africa | MWEB ADSL | February 2014[35] | 2018[36] | |
Australia | Telstra | 20.05.2014[37] launch: 30.06.2015 | 13.03.2021[38] | |
Spain | Vodafone | 22.04.2015[39] | 31.03.2018[40] | |
Italy | Vodafone | 22.04.2015[39] | 01.04.2023[41] | |
and other outdated... | ||||
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