Madrid, Spain-based “social router” company FON announced it has given away 7,000 routers in its Fonbucks campaign designed to encourage people living next to a Starbucks Coffee Co. location to provide free or inexpensive Wi-Fi services. FON said it ended up giving away 5,000 more routers than it anticipated.
Starbucks offers a paid Wi-Fi service through an agreement with T-Mobile USA Inc.
The plan allows people to charge $2 for Wi-Fi access and undercut Starbucks’ current $10 access fee for Wi-Fi service. FON customers that offer the service receive 50% of the money paid for the service.
FON said it saw an increase in FON hotspots in highly dense, Starbucks-populated areas thanks to the campaign.
There are three types of Foneros, as the company calls its customers. A Linus is someone who shares their Wi-Fi at home and in return gets free Wi-Fi at any FON access point; an Alien doesn’t share their Wi-Fi and pays $3 per day to access other FON access points; lastly, a Bill gets 50% of the money that Aliens pays to access the service.
FON said it now boasts more than 70,000 Wi-Fi hotspots scattered throughout the country, and is continuing its strategy to target high-density areas as it builds out the U.S. FON network.
The year-old company is backed by Google Inc., Skype and has a major partnership with Time Warner.
FON claims 7,000 routers in use as part of Fonbucks campaign
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