Once upon a time if you found an open wireless network - and subscribed to a particular kind of utopian, free bandwidth for the masses worldview - you’d make a little chalk sign on a handy wall to mark your discovery. Anyone else who knew the secret code could then come along and surf free of charge.

In fact I only ever saw two warchalk marks, both self inflicted. My friend Simon Smith put one on his wall when he first installed WiFi and, following his lead, I did the same. He may have had some visitors but I’m pretty sure I never did. Eventually the mark next to our door faded and there didn’t seem to be much point in refreshing it.

These days people are a little more cautious about throwing their networks open - although if you intend to download illegally shared files or plot to overthrow the government maintaining an open wireless network may give you a sliver of plausible deniability when the Feds come knocking: you can just claim it was that dodgy looking geezer you saw hanging around outside with a laptop.

If Fon get their way though pretty soon we’ll all be welcoming strangers to hitch a ride on our bandwidth. Their business model is effectively to legitimise warchalking. You buy one of their routers (at a subsidised price), plug it in and instantly you’re a wireless hotspot. Fellow Fon members can sit in your front garden, log on and grab a slice of connectivity.

It’s a charming idea marred only by the fact that it’s probably both illegal and completely impractical. Illegal because most ISPs explicitly forbid network sharing and impractical because, given the limited range of the router, you’re actually going to have to sit right outside someone’s house to use it. They’ll need a hell of a lot of members to provide anything like comprehensive coverage.

Fortunately I’m still enough of an idealist to overlook the fact that the whole scheme is obviously doomed. I’ve paid my €5 (plus postage) for La Fonera (that’s the router) and as soon as it arrives I’ll be open for business. I’ll let you know how it goes. If nothing else it might be a fun way to meet itinerant net junkies.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 2nd, 2006 at 3:01 am and is filed under Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.