Fon

Fon = worldwide WiFi initiative

URL = http://en.fon.com/

Description

"The Madrid-based startup Fon, in which Skype is an investor, turns the Freemium Business Model idea on its head – and takes Web 2.0 a step further – by letting users make money by doing without features. Fon has a mad scheme to cover the earth with inexpensive, in some cases free, Wi-Fi. It even has its own crazy lexicon. People who have bought a Fon wireless router (or installed free Fon software on their own router) are Foneros; those who haven’t are dismissed as Aliens. Some Foneros choose to share their connections with one another in return for free Net access at any Fon hot spot; they’re called Linuses (after Linus Torvalds). Others, known as Bills (as in Gates), choose to pay for access at Fon hot spots. In return, they get a cut of the revenue when an Alien pays to log on through their router.

In the old days, building an international telecom infrastructure and growing its market share required a colossal pool of capital. Today, Foneros do both of those jobs themselves. Sure, the company has $22 million to burn, which is nothing to sneeze at. But it also has an advisory board full of A-list bloggers like Dan Gillmor and David Weinberger, a powerful engine propelling the network to critical mass." (Bruce Sterling at http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/posts.html?pg=7)