FREE WIRELESS ROUTER (already ordered mine :) )

[Fathom Zero]

http://www.fon.com/en/promos/fonbucks

It's a limited promotion where you can spread wifi all around. The catch is that you have to share with an open access point, but this can easily be circumvented with other firmwares.

https://shop.fon.com/FonShop/shop/US/ShopController?view=product&product=PRD-001

If you don't get on the bandwagon, it's $39.95.


BUT IT'S A FREE FRIGGIN ROUTER.

[Womti]

http://www.onlinerewardcenter.com/rd_p?p=96980&t=434&a=free%20laptop (http://www.onlinerewardcenter.com/rd_p?p=96980&t=434&a=free%20laptop)

:bestthread

[Fathom Zero]

Thanks for moving this to it's proper place. I was at odds with where to put it.

And WHAT, it's nothing like that.

[Sacks]

GOLDENPALACECASINOPARTYPOKER.NET

[Fathom Zero]

Guess what came in the mail today.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7800/dscf1312bt7.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/151/dscf1313vl3.jpg
Instruction Manual


http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3633/dscf1314up8.jpg

Box contains:

1 Instruction Manual
1 Power Supply
1 Ethernet Cable
1 Installation CD
1 Large Sticker
1 Small Sticker
and 1 "La Fonera" Wireless Router

YAY STICKERS!

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/2395/dscf1316tr2.jpg

The little bugger himself.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6745/dscf1317hg2.jpg

Side view.

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/2820/dscf1318xd0.jpg

Back view. Antenna, Ethernet Port, Power Input Port.


NEXT STEP: INSTALLATION. We shall see what kind of range this baby gets.

[noob3]

I ordered one :o

BUT HOW DO I KNOW IF MY ORDER IS CONFIRMED :(

[MarioRPG]

Oh whoops USA only. :/

[GADZOOKS]

so does this work or what :/

[noob3]

lol i ordered one only because the pictures looked so cool!

:( get back to us fathom

[Fathom Zero]

It works well, but I didn't get to test it for but an hour because I let my friend borrow it for his Wii. He still hasn't gotten back to me on that though.

It's pretty much a normal router, except it sends out two ports, one that's free for other people to use, (hence it being free), and one private one. With the included software, one can set a cap on the bandwith the free port gets so that some idiot driving by your house won't be able to download the entire Battlestar Gallactica series and you get overcharged.

When I get it back - in the next few days, I'd imagine - I'll test the signal strength from different distances and give y'all a few screenshots of the software setup.

PS: The stickers are boss.

BUT HOW DO I KNOW IF MY ORDER IS CONFIRMED :(

I think they give you a tracking number and such when you order it.

http://www.fon.com/en/support/help

Go down to, "I ordered my router time ago and I haven't received anything."

They'll ask you to email them with the tracking number and blah blah blah.

They shipped mine via Fedex and left it on my doorstep. It came a week after I ordered it, but they said it could take up to three.

[noob3]

get back to us on how it worked for the wii, really the only reason i ordered it is to get my 360 online more easily

[Fathom Zero]

Mkay, I'll try to call my man in the field in a bit.

[Chojin]

So you don't need to dick with the firmware to have a protected sector?

The unprotected part, how do people pay to use that? Is it automatic? Or is it just there and I'm supposed to go around and collect money or what ;<

I notice they put all people who accept this on a big map with their address shown. Could I get more info on what exactly I am expected to do after receiving this router?

[Fathom Zero]

So you don't need to dick with the firmware to have a protected sector?

No, that's only if you want ONLY the protected one, not an open and protected one.

The unprotected part, how do people pay to use that? Is it automatic? Or is it just there and I'm supposed to go around and collect money or what ;<

I guess. If you're really tech-savvy, you might write up a program and stuff like the kind Starbucks has.

But I think that there's something along with the disc. Like I said, I'll get the thing back soon and will be able to answer your questions better. I believe I'll have it on Tuesday, Wednesday, if not.

I notice they put all people who accept this on a big map with their address shown. Could I get more info on what exactly I am expected to do after receiving this router?

To get your name and such to show up on the map, you have to do nothing but add your name to the giant map of other people's your router after everything's set up. There's a brief instructional booklet that comes with the router and a more comprehensive manual on the disc that comes with it.

[Sacks]

Haha, this really works. I just got mine.

[Fathom Zero]

The loser hasn't given it back to me yet and refuses to tell me how it went so I'm ordering another one.

Oh crap, I just read the conditions and it's one per customer for the first 10,000 customers.

[Chojin]

Just take it back, pussy.

[GADZOOKS]

Man I know I'm old when these days a school bully will take a 15 year old's router away from them.

[Fathom Zero]

You'll be getting a full review with screenshots tomorrow, I'd imagine.

[Fathom Zero]

Time for the long-awaited review. It surprised me, to say the least.

I got it back from my friend today and as soon as I got back to my house, I plugged it in. Immediately, I received a signal from it. That's only to be expected from wireless routers.

I put in the CD and up popped a flash document. Yuck. I'm a bit bias because I don't like Flash very much. Sue me.

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/8222/fonsplashmc2.jpg

Rather sparse. Actually, the only things on the disc are .pdfs, which you'll need to figure out what bills** and shit are.

Really, you don't need to do anything other than plug it in and you're ready to go, so just go ahead and start playing with it.

To connect to your "myplace" connection, your password is the serial on the bottom of the router:

S/N: 8650015453

That's mine.

SIGNAL TEST*:

Me sitting on top of both of my routers:

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/8172/screenshot003yj1.png

The highlighted router is my normal Linksys router. Myplace is the private portal and Fon_AP is the public one.

At the front door:

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/7276/screenshot001ks1.png

As you can see, the Linksys is the winner when it comes to being close distances.

But, about 150 feet away and across the street:

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8868/screenshot002pt6.png

Wow, the Linksys is a sad old man here. At this point I can get neighbors' connections. As you can see, the La Fonera with its tiny antenna and costing zero dollars can beat out the fifty buck Linksys monster. Impressive.

The La Fonera gets two thumbs up for me as a router, but the whole Fonbucks thing and Bills and such can get confusing. That's not to say that the Fon.com people can't help. The User Manual on the disc is a massive amount of help when it comes to understanding everything, but as I said before, all you really care about is the router.

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3600/skylineel9.jpg http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3600/skylineel9.jpg http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3600/skylineel9.jpg http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3600/skylineel9.jpg

out of five.

*All wireless signals were received using a PSP, so it's probably not the best benchmark for, say, a Wii's internal antenna or laptop Wifi card.

**Bills are what you get when people connect to your wifi, i.e. they are their bills. They pay, somehow, and Fon.com deposits money into a Paypal account of your choosing. I haven't set it up to where you have to pay to connect to the open one, but you have to set up everything through wifi.fon.com when the router is installed. I have no intention of making people pay for the wifi, so I don't need to do any of that. Thusly, I won't go into too much detail about it since it can be seen on the user manual.