Sharing Wi-Fi : La Fonera

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I have had very poor success trying to share my Wi-Fi connection with my neighbors. The few conversations I have had about it with neighbors end with suspicious glances and fears about terrorists and pornography. Yet none of them seem to think twice about paying $60.00 a month for a connection they use, maybe, um... one hour a day.

I think it's tragic because it is another indicator of the breakdown in community that is happening broadly in the U.S. I live less than 20 feet away from a guy I know absolutely nothing about (at least nothing that I can't learn from his cars).

The one family that I was successfully sharing Wi-Fi with just recently quit because they got service bundled into their cable bill for about the cost of what he was paying to share my connection. That's understandable, but still too bad.

Now, a great potential solution has entered the field, "La Fonera". It is a wi-fi sharing community in which you share your home connection in exchange for getting to use other people's connections. What a great idea. Plus on top of that they will sell you a cheap AP ($15.00) that prioritizes your traffic when you are at home. There are some other options that let you try and make money off your access point as well.

I signed up and am going to give it a shot.

A nice summary of the service is here

The actual website is here.

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Cool concept, although I don't like the digital-commune vibe.

Posted by: Nate at October 4, 2006 4:20 AM

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