Today, I received a nice email from Martin Varsavsky of FON, telling me that they have activated the Bills mode. This means that, in theory, you can resell your excess bandwidth to other users via your WiFi router, sharing the generated revenue with FON. People passing by can open their laptop, connect to your signal, and purchase access packs for $5 $3 $2 or 2$ a day – yes, the revenue model has been changing that much over the last few weeks.
In theory I say, since many ISPs have very restrictive terms in the service contracts you sign with them, some in the US even going as far as classifying sharing your broadband with others as a federal crime. So, one of the first items in FON’s Ts&Cs is that you must have your ISP’s permission to resell your broadband. So far, very few ISPs have signed up for this sharing model, one being Jazztel, a company started by Martin himself.
The email also states, this time in size 8 font, lest anyone notice it, the following:
“We would like to inform you that from now on it will be FON WIRELESS, LTD., the entity providing the Service, instead of FON TECHNOLOGY, S.L., and that we have made some minor changes to the Terms and Conditions”
The new Terms and Conditions [PDF] are a further developed version, no doubt washed down with plenty of lawyer juice. The point that most interests me is section 6.6, where the contract states that “As a Linus or Bill, you agree to keep the FON Hotspot active during 24 hours 7 days a week in order for the other Linuses and Aliens to be able to connect thereto.” Additionally, FON USA’s shopping conditions state that you have to keep the router active for one year.
So, apart from FON, who are the big winners? The ISPs of course! Martin was right in saying that FON is good for ISPs, as they are forcing FON members to keep their routers online all year round. Nowhere in the contract one can find what the penalty for not complying is, but some posts suggest they will charge you around $50 to cover the cost of the router they sent for $5.
The only way that you can prove to Fon that your hotspot is active is by allowing the router to phone home on a regular basis, which means that you must have a broadband connection with an ISP for this to happen. If you cancel your broadband, you will automatically violate FON’s terms, and thus be liable to whatever charge they want to levy. Fair?