The Spanish company FON, which has worked to set up a worldwide network of shared WiFi connections among home users and small businesses, is announcing a plan to dole out 1 million wireless routers for $5 a pop.
According to the company, these "social routers" which are Cisco Linksys or Buffalo routers will help more people around the world set up their own hotspots using FON software in order to share wireless access with others. As of today, there are 54,000 people known as "foneros" who have signed up, an increase from 3,000 in February.
In exchange for receiving the router, users must agree to share their wireless connections with other FON users for 12 months. The company says the goal is to provide others opportunity for wireless access to the internet in areas where it is limited. In addition, the connection is free, so the price is certainly right.
Of course, those folks who do share their wireless connections with others need to make sure that they secure their own personal information or risk having that data stolen by others.
