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Want a Linksys router for $5 ?

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Carol Haynes:
June 26, 2006, 9:11 AM PDT
Social networking of a different sort, from Fon
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

Hey, buddy, wanna buy a cheap wireless router? Head over to Fon and nab the Linksys WRT54GLs they're selling for just $5. Is there a catch? Sure, there's a catch. But it's not a bad deal all the same.

Fon is a growing network of people who use Wi-Fi to share their broadband connections. If you join the network and put your connection on the network, any other Fon member can use your Wi-Fi, and you can use theirs, too, free of charge. And that's where the cheapo routers come in: You need special firmware in your networking equipment. You can download the code from Fon and install it on your router, or you can buy a router with Fon preinstalled, direct from Fon. There will be 1 million cheap routers available as part of a big push the company is launching today to grow its global network.
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Full article at http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6547004.html?tag=nl.e501

wr975:
I've my doubts about sharing my wireless internet connection. What if, someone uses my internet connection to download via p2p, send spam or worse? Authorities would come to my place...

Is there some kind of security in "Fon" to prevent such things?

Carol Haynes:
I don't think useage is anonymous, so any nefarious activity should be traceable to the real culprit - I don't know any more than what was in the article. I just thought it was an interesting approach.

wr975:
Well, it is interesting, but not for me. :) For now.

BTW, about the $5 router. Just in case anyone wonders about buying it and not using it for Fon:

http://en.fon.com/shop-us/product_info.php?products_id=28&language=en

A surcharge of €/$ 45 willll be applied to all routers that are not registered with FON within 30 days of their purchase).
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