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Share your broadband for free Wi-Fi access
(05-10-07) - BT, the country’s biggest broadband provider, has teamed up with Spanish firm Fon to create a UK-wide wireless network built up of home broadband connections.
BT Fon, as the new service also backed by Google, is called, allows BT Total Broadband customers to share part of their home connection with the public in exchange for free access to the wireless network themselves.
BT (www.BT.com) has already developed the BT Openzone network but is hoping that the drive will push Wi-Fi access into suburban and even rural areas.
Any of BT’s three million Total Broadband customers signing up to the scheme - which they can do from Monday - will enter a network already 500,000 strong in the UK and have access to any of the 190,000 Fon hotspots in 50 countries across the world, including the US, Japan and France.
“Today we are launching a people’s network of Wi-Fi, which could one day cover every street in Britain,” said Gavin Patterson, BT’s head of consumer services, “if [customers] are prepared to securely share a little of their broadband, they can share the broadband at hundreds of thousands of Fon and BT Openzone hotspots today, without paying a penny.
“We are saying to customers, let’s build a Wi-Fi community together, which covers everywhere and serves everyone.”
Responding to obvious concerns about the security of personal files on the shared network, Mr Patterson explained that the service splits the owner’s broadband connection, reserving around 512kb for the public service while the rest remains under the owner’s control and password protected.
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “Although there are already extensive wireless networks in many major cities in the UK, there is little incentive for companies to invest in rural Wi-Fi networks and BT Fon is a great way of getting access out there.
“At present, many wireless hotspots are far more expensive than going into an internet café and logging on. Being part of the BT Fon network essentially lets you take your home broadband with you every time you leave the house.”
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