2006 14
R&D Projects at FON – First 4 Ideas
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
Here you will find the first 4 ideas for R&D projects we have at FON. You are welcome to read them and to comment. You are even welcome to “steal” our ideas, but what we ask in return is that if you copy them, you let us know and make them “FON ready”.
1) To port FON into macs, so macs can get ethernet or 3G internet and send WiFi signal. A FON ready second WiFi USB radio that makes laptop pc’s beam FON WiFi signal when connected to the internet by ethernet or 3G.
2) To port Fon into phones that have 3G and WiFi so they can become Fon WiFi access points for people nearby.
3) To port FON into an 802.11n router (a MIMO router) as so far we are only on 802.11g with shorter range.
4) To have the foneras send two SSIDs rourter, one with WPA and the other with FON.
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Anonymous on June 15, 2006 ·
Hi Martin,
didn’t I e-mail you a couple of months ago about idea #1 (USB Fon hotspot) and #2 (mesh network based on mobile phones) 🙂
I don’t mind that you “steal” my ideas and present them as Fon ideas, but offer me a consulting job at Fon instead 😉 I still have some other interesting hotspot projects that could be interesting for Fon.
regards,
Roy
Martin Storck on June 15, 2006 ·
#1 Good idea: USB-Fon-Access-Point for MacMINI, but with USB-cable for better connection possitions
#2A FON in UMTS/WLAN Handys – not as access-point, expensive traffic-cost with UMTS – but I, I wate for a long time use the WLAN-Connection to my smartphone with skype or other VoIP-Software –
#2B FON in UMTS/WLAN Handys SECOND- I hope, Fon can “connect” two ideas FON and the Mesh-Network
http://www.olsrexperiment.de/samples_bln/htdocs/sample_enhanced.phtml?MAP_WIDTH=800&MAP_HEIGHT=600
– but this work with adhoc-Wireless-Connection, but perhaps, It will work later with 802.11n
#3 Idea MINO OK – but it is easer to buy a 20/30€ FON-AccessPoint, little and easy to place with cable or as Repeater on the window, on the houseroof or in the Yard. To have all in own on wrong transmission place and expensive, will not have many user. Remember WLAN stopped after 4 Walls. To build a Mesh-Network with 802.11n, if it’s possible, to connect over another Fon-User, when I cannot reach the next FON-Transmitter from my possition.
#4 Router with 2 SSID – OK easy to use, but I don’t trust my provider really. It must be transparently, when only my provider get the Alien-Bill. I pay the ADSL-Connection and the Hardware.
#4B A firewall between my network, the Internet-connection and FON will be in any case necessarily.
Good luck.
Greeting out of Berlin
Martin Storck, Kerngehäuse
Damien on June 16, 2006 ·
A FON branded version of the Music Gremlin (Wifi MP3 Player) would be cool Martin
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FUIY7Q/ref=amb_link_1759712_3/103-0061370-6479021?n=172282
Luca Gibelli on June 16, 2006 ·
If you have ever used FON from your PDA or WiFI phone, you’ll know how frustrating is to check your email:
– open your web browser
– type login and password (takes time, usually you don’t have a qwerty keyboard and many mini-browsers don’t let you store your login/password)
– fire up your mail client
It wastes both resources (which are precious on PDAs and phones) and time.
An application that performs the authentication automatically would surely make things easier.
Does such an app. already exist? If not, it should be mentioned in the list.
Dabis Camero on June 16, 2006 ·
* Idea Number 1: We have been talking about it with Juantomás since two months ago. Several proposals have been presented but Martin has not replied yet :).
* The other ideas are cool, too.
Martín Varsavsky on June 16, 2006 ·
Luca,
It does not exist but we are working on it as well.
Regards,
Martín Varsavsky on June 16, 2006 ·
Roy, I am sorry.
I get around 250 e-mails a day. We have been working on these projects for a while. But who knows in this open source confusion? In any case I thank you. And if you think you could consult with us, pls send us your bio.
Regards,
Damien on June 17, 2006 ·
Reason I suggest gremilin is that FON needs to mature from the geek brand it is today into the consumer brand it will be tomorrow. Consumer devices ‘powered by FON’ is one way to do this – mp3, mobiles, cameras
Roy on June 19, 2006 ·
mmm…let me say it in another way. We exchanged a couple of e-mails and yes I believe you are receiving a lot of e-mail each day. Further more concering your bluetooth Fonspot. All smartphones will be equipped with WiFi next year (at the moment only a view such as your N80) so I don’t think it’s worth the effort to put a lot of resources in this. And I think you’re interested in users with a smartphone…because they are a certain type of users and probably the ones that will use hotspots also at this point of time.
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William on June 15, 2006 ·
My comments on this are:
Idea #1: Not that hard to do, especially on Mac OS X. Interesting as a proof of concept, but could also help many people who need to rapidly share a connection. Could be intresting on Mac Minis http://www.apple.com/macmini/ that are more and more used as Media Centers. Some companies already have a UBS WiFi port that can be used in PCs. This WiFi port also comes with a wifi client much better than the Windows client.
Idea #2: This coud easily be done through a public wiki. Netvibes was translated in English – French – German – Spanish – Chinese(tw) – Russian – Portuguese(br) – Croatian – Hindi using a wiki.
Idea #3: MIMO is a layer of 802.11n that has not been ratified yet. MIMO and pre-802.11n equipments are really expensive. But as soon as the prices drop, FON should release a router with such capabilities.
Idea #4: This should be extremely important, especially for ISPs and subscribers so Fon is invisible to the Fonero and visible to the Alien.
Cheers