2005 21
FON’s poltical activism isn’t as original as I thought
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
Now that we’re planning our launch in the US, i realised that our political activism to create a WiFi nation isn’t that original in this country. Andrew Rasiej, a politician from New York, has his whole campaign based on the idea of creating a WiFi New York. The difference between FON and his campaign agenda isn’t the objective, but rather, the method. Mr. Rasiej WiFi approach requires a multi-million dollar investment in WiFi network infrastructure. The FON approach aims at citizen collaboration whereby citizens are asked to download this free software, install it on their router and place their newly converted FON access points on their window sill. The other obvious difference is the fact that Mr. Rasiej is a politican and I am an entrepreneur. But if there is one thing we have in common, it is our dream to see a mobile internet for everyone become a reality.
2005 9
FON can become Europe’s biggest WiFi network
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
A big thank you to all the foners out there who sent us data on Telefonica, The Cloud and T Mobile hotspots.
To recap: Telefonica currently has the largest WiFi network in Spain with 900 hotspots. The Cloud has the largest WiFi network in Europe with 6000 hotspots. And finally, T Mobile has the largest WiFi network in the world with 14,000 hotposts. FON already has 1500 pre-registered foners, so this means that very soon, FON will have a larger network than Telefonica. Coupled with FON expansion in France and Sweden, FON could be the largest WiFi network in Europe by April of next year, with more than 6000 hotspots (to which Linuses will connect for free!).