Newsletter MARCH08

FON NEWSBLOTTER

Gmail and Google Free at all FON Spots

Foneros who share their home Internet with other Foneros get free WiFi at any of our FON Spots worldwide. Nevertheless, as a way to promote FON, we allow all FON users -- those who share and those who don’t -- to try out FON. We give them the option of a 15 minute test run after watching a FON ad.

Another great way of promoting FON and our shareholders is to allow all of our users to have free access to Google products, like Google Maps, news, search, and now Gmail. We've learned that when people get to try FON they are more likely to buy a FON pass or become a Fonero by purchasing a Fonera and sharing at home so they can roam for

This is one more way to introduce people to FON and thank Google for investing in us!

FON Labs introduces Twitxr

Twitxr, pronounced “twitcher”, is great to use with a computer or camera phone. Take a picture, add some text, and upload to your Twitxr account where your friends can follow what you’re up to. Your friends can also locate your whereabouts when you upload your geotagged pictures from a phone.

Twitxr is still very beta, and as proof of concept we’ve released iTwitxr for the iPhone. So if you've jailbroken your iPhone you can install iTwitxr and quickly upload your tagged photos! You also have the option to automatically upload to Facebook and Twitter. We’ve even just added Flickr support and the ability to search your email address book for friends on Twitxr

Try it out and see who's on Twitxr near you!

Panasonic FON-enabled Skype WiFi Phone

It's now easier then ever for Foneros to connect to any FON Spot worldwide and call for free to other Skype users. Skype also has very low rates for calls to non-Skype members.

The phone is on sale in Japan and comes with a WiFi router for use at home. When you’re not at home, the Skype WiFi phone automatically connects to any FON Spot when one is detected. During the initial set up you enter your FON username and password, and the phone stores them and will automatically connect in the future.

This is a great option for our Foneros living in or visiting Tokyo where we've reached 80% coverage! We recommend it!

FONTASTIC FON SPOTS

Kestutis has installed FON Spots in his former school, Ignalina Česlovas Kudaba, and also at the Ignalina's district gymnasium.

“I think that the best things in the world are often free, so I was excited when I learned about FON and ‘Viva Free WiFi’. By sharing your internet connection and creating just one FON Spot, you gain access to all of the other FON Spots around the world. What a wonder! By creating more FON Spots in my town, I am helping to expand FON WiFi even more.

Whenever I am outside or abroad, I can always check for WiFi signals, and when I see the ‘FON_AP’, I think that it’s my lucky day! I also especially enjoy seeing that other people are able to access my FON Spot. I am excited to be part of the Movimiento and am doing what I can to help out!”

-- Kestutis Sidorenka

Top Fonero of the Month

Peter Kremer is a FONhero in our FON Support Community and is working to install FON Spots in the 29 villages that make up the Littenseradiel municipality in Friesland, the Netherlands.

“My goal is to install at least one FON Spot in every one of the 29 villages and in all of their recreational facilities. I believe a FON Spot is the perfect way to begin offering wireless internet connection to these areas. FON Spots are inexpensive, require low maintenance, and are user friendly. We also have an increase in tourism in the area, and I want to make it easy for our guests to get online this summer. Installing the first 10 FON Spots went a bit slowly, but now people are getting familiar with the system and we’re moving quite fast. Campsites, cafés, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, community centers and village harbours -- they are all on my list, and half of the work is already done.”

-- Peter Kremer

TIPS & TRICKS

Make sure your FON Spot is Online

In your My FON user area at fon.com, you can check to see whether your FON Spot is online. When your FON Spot is online that means that you are helping to build the FON Community and that your FON Spot is ready to be shared with other Foneros at any time. When that happens, your FON Spot’s signal sends out what we call a “heartbeat” letting us know that your FON Spot is connected.

Sometimes we don’t hear your FON Spot’s heartbeat. That generally means that it is offline, even when you haven’t disconnected it. Here are a few things you can do if your My FON areas reports that your FON Spot is offline:

- Check your Internet connection. If your DSL router isn’t online, your FON Router will not be online either.

- Check to make sure the Ethernet and power cables are properly connected to your FON Router.

- Reboot your FON Router.

Here are some more in depth solutions if you continue to experience problems.