10,000 Free FON WiFi Routers

missingtime

From Gizmodo.com:

Fon, those lovable guys trying to make a WiFi sharing community, are celebrating their 1-year birthday with a 10,000 router giveaway. The b/g routers have both a private and public access point, and you can share your broadband with strangers in exchange for free access to other Fon user's APs around the world, or for cash when non-Fon users pony up.

The router, designed by Cisco, is palm sized. And despite some rumors on the internet, it is not stronger than ye old full sized AP. In particular, I compared it to a Linksys 802.11 A/G router, the WRT55AG. The signal strength for the Fon was only 70% of the bigger router. There aren't any ethernet ports, either. But look at how tiny this thing is? Use this thing as a second AP. And do I need to remind you that this normally $30 router is going for free now. No shipping. No tax.

http://www.fon.com/1yearold/

It defaults to GB as country though. I have submitted successfully (got an invoice) using a dodgy postal code and putting Ireland at the end of my address.
Hopefully it will work.
If anyone else has ideas let me know.

Chardee MacDennis

how did you work the address?

Sponge Bob

put it in address box in full including county and town and country (Ireland)

make the zipcode 00000 or 99999 and select any us state you like

Chardee MacDennis

my address ended up looking like this:
30 Street Name
Town Name
RE01 R0I, Dublin 15, Republic of Ireland
Fermanagh United Kingdom

with street and town name obviously replaced with real address!

Basq

Got my free one from Boards... still in it's box though i intend on hooking it up at the weekend.

missingtime

mine ended up with the channel islands in it!!
ah well, fingers crossed.

kdouglas

got one of the boards.ie one's before xmas myself, it is very small, haven't got around to setting it up yet either tho....

Mossy Monk

are these dsl only or would my cable modem work with it?

Saruman

Cable modem will work fine... they are Wireless routers not modem/router combos.

I got mine free from boards.. however just ordered the skype wifi fone which comes with one! So if anyone wants one and can pop out to Westmeath to collect then they are welcome to it. Assuming i do in fact get the other one too. Im pretty sure i will.

For anyone not familiar with FON, you share some of your bandwidth. Its not accessable by any muppet off the street... they will get a fon page where they can log in and use if they are a fon user (Linus account). Or they can purchase a day pass that can be used on yours and anyone elses shared broadband. If you are a Bill account then you get half the money. If you are a linus you get nothing, Fon gets the money but you can use any FON AP in the wold for free.. handy when you travel.

Also you have a private SSID for home use too so you do not need to worry about someone getting into your files.

Cabaal

Got mine from boards and have given invites to two other people, all setuip and working

qwertplaywert

was too small in posts to get one from boards.............

Conor108

Here if anyone got this sent to Ireland for free can you give us an example of the address you used, and you might want to censor the personal stuff obviously

markjobrien

Just tried my luck with this thing and got one in the post. Can i use it to enable my desktop PC to connect to my home network. My PC currenty has no Wifi ability and i'd like to hide the wireless router away and finally banish all the internet wires for good.

So can the FON help me?? How would i do it?????

youcancallmeal

Does anyone if there is any real advantage to having one of these if I already have a wireless router at home, aside from the obvious that you can connect to other FON user's routers when out and about?

HungryJoey

Mine arrived this morning... unexpectantly. Have to read now what it actually does :P

But yeah Had no issues shipping to my irish address anyway..


Hj

optiplexgx270

Got mine today also.

Toy

Did they have to be signed for by any chance, just I won't be home til later and want to know if I might expect it or a little piece of paper!

bittihuduga

got mine today aswell

HungryJoey

Yes they have to be signed for. Apparently they will make 3 delivery attempts before the WiFi device is sent back to FON... So I read.

Pretty easy to set it, just plug it in really. But I still don't see the point in it.. What does it actually do ???

Hj

techguy

is the offer with boards still on or how long is it over? I subscribed and never got my promo code in my control panel..
Can't remember who was in charge of it again, anybody remember??

Techguy.

Toy

HungryJoey wrote:

Yes they have to be signed for. Apparently they will make 3 delivery attempts before the WiFi device is sent back to FON... So I read.

Was it not delivered by an Post so, that could be quite awkward for me...

HungryJoey

Was delievered by T N T.

Hj

Toy

Thanks, I might have to tape my number to the door but good to know.

paconnors

Got mine today delivered by tnt

patch

Got mine too.
Can I just plug this thing into my NTL modem and then use my wifi enabled laptop from it?

Edit: Nope, NTL box doesn't have any spare ethernet ports.

Dancing_Priest

Got mine from TNT today also.
I had it set up in 5 mins without a bother, just followed the instructions in the box. No software to install, laptop just picked the network up and away I went! The range is great (better than than my parents eircom one) and setting up port forwarding is as simple as pie.

MarkR

Got mine today too. Haven't set it up yet but will do as soon as my bb is working again.

Dermot2468

Can someone who got one please send me a invite. Thanks

Spipov

not got mine yet. wonder if itll get here or not..

Cucullan

Got mine today delivered by TNT. Haven't set it up yet. Thanks to the OP for a real bargain for once

MarkR

Dermot2468 wrote:

Can someone who got one please send me a invite. Thanks

Sure, what's your email?

lensman

Can this be used to extend the range of an existing wifi access point ?
if so I could do with one,..can some kind person send me an invite ?

rash0001

What's this invite thing? Do you need an invite to get a router!? If so can someone send me one too?

btw: is this invite router free!?:D

peckerhead

Me too? Please?

MarkR

There's an option on the site to invite a friend to join. Think you may still have to buy the router though?

Again, to invite someone, I need their email address. I'll send an invite to anyone who sends me a pm with their email addy. Will try one and see what happens.

Dermot2468

Thanks mark pm sent

red_fox

MarkR wrote:

There's an option on the site to invite a friend to join. Think you may still have to buy the router though?

Again, to invite someone, I need their email address. I'll send an invite to anyone who sends me a pm with their email addy. Will try one and see what happens.

Just sent you a PM, thanks!

Absolut

I just got mine from TNT this morning. It was set up and working straight out of the box, although I can only use the MyPlace network, so no public sharing, which doesn't make a huge difference to me.

death1234567

I got a package from T N T at home so I presume its my free wireless router. Whats the scéal? Do I plug my network into the wirless router, it beems out the signal which my laptop picks up and then any other FON nerd who happens to be standing outside my house can access my broadband?

Note: I have no wireless card for my laptop will I have to buy one? Will any type do or do I need a special one?

Toy

Mine was recieved by a neighbour this morning, quite an excellent deal!

inode

just recieved mine this morning with TNT

nava

Hi

does anyone have any of those invites left that they can send me 1?

octron2 (at) gmail (dot) com


THANKS in advance

Dermot2468

Hello again
Did anyone get a free wifi router by invite. I cannot get one.
Markr did you invite me using this page;
https://www.fon.com/en/main/FGFLandingWeb
sullivan 2004 at eircom dot net
Thanks

youcancallmeal

Can somebody please throw me an invite so I can get the free router, cheers

66o66o

got mine during the week,

Qwertyboy

youcancallme>al wrote:

Can somebody please throw me an invite so I can get the free router, cheers

Me too Please
Freebies are always good!

Do you think this offer is still on?

brettpatricklukecawley@hotmail.com

Dermot2468

According to the website it is still on
https://www.fon.com/en/main/FGFLandingWeb

"In order to take advantage of the Fonero Gets Fonero offer all you need to do is go into your FON User Zone and send your invitations. Your friends will receive an email inviting them to order a La Fonera WiFi router completely free including all shipping and handling charges"

Hypnotoad

can someone send me an invite please at 'thief-of-time0 (at) hotmail (dot) com'

peckerhead

I got my invite — thanks, MarkR! — but it just invited me to go and register on the site, which I did. It now tells me that 'you are the #313426 member of the FON Community, and you're alien'. But nothing about how to get the free router. If I go to the 'shop', it's priced €29.99 +VAT. I tried re-inviting myself at another e-mail address by clicking on the We want to give your friends a free La Fonera link, but I only got the same thing all over again. Am I missing something here?

Dear <friend of peckerhead>,

Your friend peckerhead would love to have you join the FON Community, the largest WiFi Community in the world.

Don’t worry, your friend peckerhead hasn’t gotten you into any trouble yet.

Register with FON at www.fon.com and Enjoy the WiFi Planet with us!

[Edit: Hypnotoad, invite sent — hope it works for you. I've just looked again (doh!) at the title of this thread and am now wondering if being member #313426 might be the problem...? ]

1huge1

got mine just before new years
got a call from tnt early in the morning verifying the address or something
dont have broadband so its gathering dust
but the day I get broadband it will go to good use

Dermot2468

I think that the "fonero gets fonero" offer is different one to the 10,000 free fone routers promotion.