6 ms·

Fon has decided to open our WiFi network in Japan to all for free

120 points by aundumla 16y ago

melvinram 16y ago
Major kudos if they are as wide spread as they sound. I was able to talk with family in Japan using Skype even though their cells were out... so this will definitely help people.
- malnourish 16y ago
  That's truly amazing, and it's not just a nice thing to do but it's great PR. My best wishes to your family. On a tangentially related note, are their hotspots in Japan 802.11n?
  - sp332 16y ago
    are their hotspots in Japan 802.11n? Most of them probably aren't. Fonera only has one product that supports 802.11n http://wiki.fon.com/wiki/Fonera_2.0n http://wiki.fon.com/wiki/Fonera_2.0n
    - malnourish 16y ago
      Very interesting! I wonder how long the adoption will take.
- MichaelApproved 16y ago
  They deserve kudos regardless of how wide spread they are.
- gurtwo 16y ago
  Yesterday's news said the mobile phone didn't work, whereas wireline network was still functioning. I strongly suspect this is not due to an outage in the network, but rather intentional. Some years ago I worked on a project for a Japanese mobile operator to implement a system that prevents "normal" mobile phones from making calls to avoid overloading the network. When activated, only emergency services (fire fighters, police, medical, ...) are allowed to call. At regular intervals, a batch of the "civilian" phones are allowed too for a while, then a different batch, etc, so everyone gets its chance to call if they wait long enough. The system was a government requirement for events such as yesterday's quake, but I can't confirm all phone disturbances reported were/are due to it. Technically, it relies on a bitpattern called "accessClasssNBarred".
rmoriz 16y ago
Fon is still alive? Looks like 99% of all German FON APs are gone but still listed on their website… Maybe they are Big in Japan.
- ableal 16y ago
  In Portugal, Fon partnered with Zon (an ISP operation of the major cable TV provider). A couple of years ago, the cable-modem/wireless-router combo boxes, mostly Netgear hardware, had an option to turn on the Fon service, which was off by default. That must have been not working very well. So, around August 2010, they updated the firmware in the routers, including those already deployed, to turn on the Fon option by default. Plenty of access points now available ... (Details: although it uses the same radio and bandwidth, the public Fon access point uses a different IP; it requires a password which anyone who provides Fon access in his wireless router can have by registering with fon.com)
- mullr 16y ago
  They are pretty big in japan. I've noticed a big increase in the past year or so; a lot of places that previously offered their own free service now have a for-pay Fon access point. (in the Kobe area, anyway)
kmfrk 16y ago
This reminds me that another way for fellow Japanese to help their compatriots would be to remove the passwords on their wireless networks and rename the SSID to "Free Wi-Fi for those who need it". Thoughts?
closu11 16y ago
thats gay

120 points by aundumla 16y ago

Major kudos if they are as wide spread as they sound. I was able to talk with family in Japan using Skype even though their cells were out... so this will definitely help people.

malnourish 16y ago
That's truly amazing, and it's not just a nice thing to do but it's great PR. My best wishes to your family. On a tangentially related note, are their hotspots in Japan 802.11n?
- sp332 16y ago
  are their hotspots in Japan 802.11n? Most of them probably aren't. Fonera only has one product that supports 802.11n http://wiki.fon.com/wiki/Fonera_2.0n http://wiki.fon.com/wiki/Fonera_2.0n
  - malnourish 16y ago
    Very interesting! I wonder how long the adoption will take.
MichaelApproved 16y ago
They deserve kudos regardless of how wide spread they are.
gurtwo 16y ago
Yesterday's news said the mobile phone didn't work, whereas wireline network was still functioning. I strongly suspect this is not due to an outage in the network, but rather intentional. Some years ago I worked on a project for a Japanese mobile operator to implement a system that prevents "normal" mobile phones from making calls to avoid overloading the network. When activated, only emergency services (fire fighters, police, medical, ...) are allowed to call. At regular intervals, a batch of the "civilian" phones are allowed too for a while, then a different batch, etc, so everyone gets its chance to call if they wait long enough. The system was a government requirement for events such as yesterday's quake, but I can't confirm all phone disturbances reported were/are due to it. Technically, it relies on a bitpattern called "accessClasssNBarred".

rmoriz 16y ago

Fon is still alive? Looks like 99% of all German FON APs are gone but still listed on their website… Maybe they are Big in Japan.

ableal 16y ago
In Portugal, Fon partnered with Zon (an ISP operation of the major cable TV provider). A couple of years ago, the cable-modem/wireless-router combo boxes, mostly Netgear hardware, had an option to turn on the Fon service, which was off by default. That must have been not working very well. So, around August 2010, they updated the firmware in the routers, including those already deployed, to turn on the Fon option by default. Plenty of access points now available ... (Details: although it uses the same radio and bandwidth, the public Fon access point uses a different IP; it requires a password which anyone who provides Fon access in his wireless router can have by registering with fon.com)
mullr 16y ago
They are pretty big in japan. I've noticed a big increase in the past year or so; a lot of places that previously offered their own free service now have a for-pay Fon access point. (in the Kobe area, anyway)

kmfrk 16y ago

This reminds me that another way for fellow Japanese to help their compatriots would be to remove the passwords on their wireless networks and rename the SSID to "Free Wi-Fi for those who need it". Thoughts?

closu11 16y ago

thats gay