You can now turn your home’s broadband connection into a public wireless hotspot, thanks to a deal made between Time Warner Cable and Fon, a WiFi provider. Time Warner broadband subscribers will soon be able to join the Fon community as a member and set up a Fon access point using a special Fon router that splits the WiFi signal; one channel will be encrypted and for the subscribers use, and the other will be a public channel accessible to anyone within range. The idea seems to be to increase the number of nationwide WiFi hotspots for Fon community members, as they will have free access to these services. Non-members will also be able to access a Fon hotspot, albeit at a nominal cost (a few bucks for 24-hour access). Time Warner has about 6.6 million broadband subscribers—that’s a lot of potential hotspots for the traveling member. A person can check out a world map at the Fon website to see all the other hotspots available to the community member—seems like a cool way to determine if it’s worth becoming a community member and turning your own Internet access point into a public wireless hotspot.
Credit: LA Times
