Some ISPs think it's better to share and share alike: Remember the kerfuffle a few months ago when Fon was announced, and said that part of its business model relied on people sharing a broadband connection--typically wireline--over Wi-Fi for allcomers to use? And recall that they had a short list of ISPs that supported the practice at the time, and created a bit of confusion by including Speakeasy, a Seattle-based broadband company that I use for DSL at home and work, in that list.

The confusion made sense in retrospect. Speakeasy is one of the few ISPs that allows any subscriber to share any connection at no additional cost. It also charges nothing for "excess bandwidth," preferring instead to have a slightly premium price for their DSL and other services in exchange for top-notch technical support, extra features, and uncapped bandwidth. This has worked for me for many a year.

When I was writing about Fon and at other times in the past, I've noted that there are now very few ISPs that encourage or even allow sharing. I just received a note from UK provider Fondoo.net's Alan Bell, who had come across one of these older articles, and wanted to share the fact that they support Fon's form of sharing. Fon's list of ISPs that support using their service seems to be out of date as Fondoo.net isn't listed. (Be sure to fill out Fondoo.net's site survey on stuff you dunk in a fondue pot.) The Wikipedia entry for Fon has a long list of ISPs that allow Fon or forbid it, but it's unclear whether it's authoritative, as, you know, it's Wikipedia. (EFF started a list years ago, but it hasn't been updated since about 2003.)

Fon's founder, Martin Varsavsky, knows that for Fon to succeed, it has to attract more broadband usage among the ISPs that will allow it to persist. While Fon could be used without ISP's cooperation, it's more likely to find the toehold if there's financial benefit for an ISP and its customers and Foneros.

I don't cover all the news emerging from Fon, partly because I disagree with how they characterize the growth of their network. They like to put out press releases or public comments about how they are the size of so many T-Mobile networks. But their Web site puts it better than their PR: "FON is the largest Wi-Fi community in the world."

For instance, I missed writing a few weeks ago about the Skype/Fon/Accton deal that provides a US$160 phone/Skype service/Fonera router package that can place free calls over the Fon network, partly because it's an interesting idea but not that much more interesting than a Skype phone--yet. (Skype is a Fon investor.) I try to cover news that reaches a certain threshold of general importance or interest, and it's not always clear whether general Fon announcements hit that mark. Some clearly do.

While I still think the jury will be out for quite a while as to whether Fon achieves the specific initial objectives of blanketing cities with enough access to serve roaming and resident Foneros needs, it's clear that interest hasn't ebbed from the first announcement. I also expect Fon to be more useful in particular cities, in the way that the Google-supported Orkut social network is weirdly popular in Brazil, than to be the universal solution or tool for expanding connectivity and mobility.