Alphabet Inc (GOOG): Google-eBay venture promoting free Wi-Fi...

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Re: secureresources post# 4330

Tuesday, 06/27/2006 1:21:56 AM

Tuesday, June 27, 2006 1:21:56 AM

Google-eBay venture promoting free Wi-Fi with sale of $5 routers
By JONATHAN THAW, BLOOMBERG NEWS
Tuesday, June 27, 2006

FON, a company funded by Google Inc. and eBay Inc. to promote free wireless Internet access, will start selling routers for $5 to encourage consumers to share their Web connections with others.

Consumers buying the routers, which usually cost about $60, will need to let others use their Internet connections and in return will be able to connect for free to other wireless hot spots that are part of the network, said Juergen Urbanski, Madrid-based FON's U.S. general manager.

FON, which in February raised $21.7 million from Google, eBay's Skype Technologies, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital, is aiming to build a global network of wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, links to promote Internet access. The company also wants to give consumers a way of making money by renting connections to others.

"We want Wi-Fi to become much more ubiquitous," Urbanski, who is based in San Francisco, said in a Friday interview. "That's good news for the different Web-based companies. It's good for the router makers."

The routers are made by Linksys Inc., acquired by Cisco Systems Inc. in 2003, and Buffalo Technology Inc., and FON is making 1 million available for sale at the subsidized price, Urbanski said. Wireless routers plug into home Internet connections and broadcast a signal that can be picked up by laptop computers.

Users who already have certain makes of wireless routers can also install software from FON to join the network.

The company aims to have 50,000 wireless hot spots by September and 150,000 by the end of the year, Urbanski said.

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