The Hindu Business Line : Ready for the Fon fun?

This Web telephony technology unveiled recently promises to change the way you connect to the Internet and share broadband. And you have a choice of three slots: Linuses, Bills and Aliens.

THE O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference, held during January 24-26 in the US, was about Web telephony technologies that are `hitting the big time'.

The event's site http://conferences.oreillynet.com set the context thus: "eBay bought Skype, Google launched GoogleTalk, and Yahoo introduced Yahoo Messenger with Voice. Web developer voice platforms such as Tellme and Voxeo are creating entirely new voice services opportunities for developers and enterprises. Pingtel and Digium's open source IP PBX platforms are striking fear into the hearts of traditional telcos."

ETel, as the conference was called, promised to bring "the best of what's happening at the cutting edge of the entire IP telephony spectrum now, and how new technology is being deployed by forward-thinking pioneers".

In the list of sessions, you can spot a few Indian names such as: Srikanth Raju and Nitin Mittal on `Developing SIP Applications on Nokia Symbian 60 Smartphone Platform'; Raju again on `Nokia: The Future of Mobility for Developers'; Gurdeep Singh Pall on `Microsoft ICE (Integrated Communications Experience)'; and Shirish Andhare on `Innovation at Scale: The Power of Hosted VoIP and Web 2.0 Mash-ups'.

One of the items on ETel's schedule for January 25 was `Fon Launch' by Ejovi Nuwere, Chief Technology Officer of SecurityLab Technologies. "Imagine a global WiFi phone network made up of the people who choose to be a part of it. Anyone with a WiFi node can join and reap the benefits globally," read a teaser for the launch.

Reporting about the launch, Christine Herron says on http://spacejockeys.blogs.com, "In Fon's utopia, all individuals would share their WiFi hotspot as a member of a community in which all members shared their hotspots." For starters, Wikipedia explains, "Wi-Fi (also WiFi, Wi-fi, Wifi, or wifi) is a set of product compatibility standards for wireless local area networks (WLAN)."

WiFi was intended to be used for mobile devices and LANs, but is now often used for Internet access, adds http://en.wikipedia.org. "It enables a person with a wireless-enabled computer or personal digital assistant (PDA) to connect to the Internet when in proximity of an access point. The geographical region covered by one or several access points is called a hotspot."

About the US launch, Stuart Henshall reported on www.skypejournal.com, "I think this is an idea whose time has come," and doubted if the ISP (Internet Service Provider) would clamp it down.

"Fon has developed a downloadable ROM upgrade for WiFi routers that allows you to share your WiFi hotspot securely," wrote Alec Saunders on www.saunderslog.com. "It's a pretty interesting push. What they've done is built a business model that allows you, if you wish, to charge for access to your router. Or, if you wish to provide it for free, to be able to authenticate and use for free and Fon hotspot."

Writing on www.commsdesign.com Paul Kapustka said in a story dated January 26, `Fon has fun with US launch,' about the event that was "as formal as sneakers at a black-tie dinner".

The idea has a huge list of unanswered questions standing between it and success - not the smallest of which are legal terms of service that can prohibit `sharing' of broadband access, opined Kapustka. To know more, on we go to http://en.fon.com. The homepage screams, "Fon is the WiFi Revolution! Share your WiFi broadband access and enjoy WiFi all over the world!" Don't ask what's Fon, but who?

And there's an answer in an FAQ on http://en.fon.com: "Fon is an integration of those wanting to contribute to free universal communication and solidarity. We are a usernet growing larger every time we exchange part of our bandwidth for the ability to connect to the bandwidth of other Fon members, in every moment from every location in the world."

The site declares the objective, "To build a Wifi world." And the method is simple: "To permit all users to synchronise their access points into one: Fon. Pay for connection at home; connect anywhere. Join the Fon movement!" Participants are called `Foneros', falling into three categories, viz. Linus, Bill, and Alien.

Poking fun `at the industry and itself' Fon calls the `most-generous members' Linuses (after Linux creator Linus Torvalds), while `those who want a share of revenue from their bandwidth usage' are called Bills, after Bill Gates, commented Kapustka! The former `share their WiFi hotspot and get free roaming on Fon network', and the latter `share their WiFi hotspot and get 50 per cent of the revenue generated by aliens in their hotspot but have no free roaming'. What about Aliens? They are users of the Fon network that don't have an access point and connect through Linus or Bills. "Fees are euro 5 for 24 hours of connection and euro 40 for one month."

How do you participate? Register at the site, and download `free software' to enable your router to convert to a Fon access point and you will be able to share your connection, whether it is ADSL or cable. "For now we are only compatible with Linksys WRT54G/GS/GL versions 1.x to 4.x," informs the site.

To Linuses, there's assurance that Fon software provides `a level of control and security' to their hotspot. "You can specify exactly how much bandwidth you want to make available to others, and those who access your site are kept securely away from your own computers."

Another poser in the FAQ reads, `What is the password system used to enter the Fon network?' The answer is that Fon WiFi points will have two password systems.

"The first system of passwords will serve local users and will work only at your access point. All the local users that want to connect (your family, visiting friends) are going to be able to connect without restrictions. The other system of passwords will connect roaming Foneros and is based on a single password given to each Fonero."

Is there a guarantee of security, asks another query? The recommendation is of antivirus with a good firewall. "Absolute security does not exist in any type of connection - wireless, ADSL or cable. Fon will provide a greater degree of security to the open wireless connections that are united within Fon since it will require a username and password to be able to enter to the network," assures Fon.

In sum, Fon software (firmware) is designed as thin client with basic local functionality, client is updated daily or at router boot up for added security, and all intelligence resides in central servers. "Web pages for each single user and access point are also stored centrally, building a social networking environment."

Who is behind Fon? A long list of impressive names shows, beginning with Martin Varsavsky as the founder and CEO. He is an Argentine entrepreneur and philanthropist, who founded companies such as Viatel, Jazztel and Ya.com. For those who want to know more about Varsavsky, there is http://blog.fon.com/en, the blog where Martin posts apart from his own, http://english.martinvarsavsky.net.

In the latter, he rued on January 27, `O Reilly for the Smart, Davos for the rest,' referring to his participation in the World Economic Forum at the time of the US launch. "Interestingly I was approached by an Indian woman who wants to do Fon in India. In India, Fon is all about using WiFi to reach many at a low cost," wrote Varsavsky on November 11, 2005. For more, try your luck searching the Web for Lawrence Minard's 1999 article on www.forbes.com, and Julie Jette's 2001 piece on http://hbswk.hbs.edu.

Interestingly, Fon is only months old. The organisation that was started in November 2005 is based in Spain, and is in the simplest terms "Skype+Boingo+Open Source" but in a WiFi context, educates Om Malik on http://gigaom.com in a December 4 posting, after Fon's launch in Europe. "Imagine if Fon could link up with Google WiFi, Metro Fi, and scores of other WiFi efforts. As one very smart man who pointed out the amazing potential of Fon said, this should have been Google's WiFi play all along," commented Malik. "Fon works by rewriting the firmware on your wireless router, adding an access layer, a billing layer and, ultimately, bandwidth shaping to the router," explained Ethan Zuckerman on www.ethanzuckerman.com in a posting dated December 5, 2005.

Disappointingly, Wikipedia is yet to catch up with Fon, as at the time of writing this. What shows up is only a page about `optical fiber'. You may be luckier on www.technorati.com, which tracks `26.6 blogs and 1.9 billion links'. "Fon is the name of the language spoken by the people of the Fon ethnic group," informs www.geocities.com/fon_is_fun. "Fon is also called Fongbe which means `language'. The Fon people inhabit the southern region of Benin, and to this day, they have a king who is located in the capital of the Fon kingdom called Abomey."

As for the king of Fon, Varsavsky, he is up and working, staying connected, and finding time to respond to mails requesting for inputs. For instance, a mail dated January 30, explains through 16 slides all about his latest venture. `The problem' according to him is, "3G is great for reach but bad for throughput and cost and there are more WiFi gadgets than WiFi networks."

He answers the question, `Why Fon?' thus: "Broadband growth continues; WiFi is rapidly disseminating; WiFi devices are rapidly proliferating; VoIP is becoming mainstream; users want fixed Internet everywhere."

Are there enemies of Fon? Yes! "Mobile operators have paid enormous amounts of money for 3G licences and they want the return on their investment. But they don't have the bandwidth to compete with WiFi," points out Varsavsky.

"The hotspot business legality is well established. Tax (and VAT) implications for revenue sharing with Bills are being evaluated following AdSense model," he assures. "Negotiations have started with many ISPs around the world to offer their services Fon ready."

Are we ready for the Fon fun?

ITworks@TheHindu.co.in

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