Have PlusNet considered teaming up with Fon like BT do

[#1]

I'd definitely be interested in this. I'm not sure I'd want to be forced to use the 582 router, though. The Netgear router Plusnet gave me when I took my fibre connection has a facility to specify an extra 'guest' SSID that gives people access to wifi but not to the home LAN. I suspect it couldn't be used with FON or whatever without modification, though.
Graham
ps. It would need to work more reliably than the access to (some) Openzone hotspots that I allegedly have via my tablet's data contract with Vodafone. I've never been able to get it to work.

[#2]

Offering a Fonera/fon simpl for people to plug into their routers would be one work around/solution that wouldnt cost plusnet much/if anything.
from what I understand theres a fon router that also doubles up as a wifi booster

[#3]

I'd be interested in a PlusNet/Fon service provided it could be enabled somehow by plugging an extra device into my system so that I can carry on using my existing DrayTek 2920Vn VoIP router.
I'd guess that several of my referrals would also be interested.

[#4]

I'd be very interested in this.
Devon has a very patchy 3G signal, so for somebody like me who needs access to email whilst travelling, Plusnet hotspots could be just the answer.

[#5]

Id be very interested in BT Wifi aswell, it is something i miss from not having BT

[#6]

Were there any extra costs when PN offered their OpenZone service, if so could that of been a contributing factor why it did not take off ?

Quote from: Matt

Hi, we did offer Openzone access a couple of years back (I forget how long) but it didn't really take off unfortunately so isn't really something we'll rush back to. If there's more interest shown though then it might well be given more serious consideration.

[#7]

Until recently I wouldnt have consdered this - but I have finally succombed o getting a pad - and have been doing some reading.
Add two of us here
This last year these pads have really taken off and android devisesseem to be growing much faster than ipads. And the vast majority of cellfones these days use android and have wifi .
I know 4G will raise speeds - but this service is more expensive and the phones certainly much more. And even 3G cover is still quite patchy especially getting the higher speeds.
Sky offer free wifi  as well as BT.
Maybe another advantage of uses ones ISP for WiFi - is that it may be more secure
I know all about O2 , the cloud etc etc - but I have looked at the places they are around here and are fairly limited. Many places I have looked I see BT wifi zone come up so they seem to have much better coverage as one would expect.
I seriously think Plusnet should do some more market research on this - esepcailly as they are a BT company.

[#8]

I too was an occasional user of BT- Wi-Fi from Plusnet - looking back through my email archive I can see that you emailed me about the discontinuation in September 2008. 
At that time the only device I had that was capable of using Wi-Fi was my Laptop so the opportunities to use the service were limited to the occasions I was out with my Laptop.  Also I recall that the services was not very attractively priced.
Since then - Mobile Internet use has exploded - I have an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet and ebook reader.  It strikes me that Plusnet withdrew the services at precisely the point in time when it would have started to become really useful.
I looked on BT customers with the unlimited wifi access with envy and hoped when BT bought Plusnet, we might see see wifi return to Plusnet, but sadly no.
Fon, as I understand is a no cost service, apart from a suitable router, and surely the time has come for PN to catch up an give us back wifi.

[#9]

As stated before it wouldnt take too much for plusnet to re-sell the fonera as an extra, as well as enabling users to connect to Fon wifi, the new fonera also acts as a wifi extender, fon are selling this for €34 or roughly £28. https://shop.fon.com/en/products/all
If plusnet could re-sell this at a slight discount then ti would save the effort of having to provide new routers.

[#10]

There are two people in this household who did not have mobile devices when this was first trialed, but do now.  Of course it would depend how much extra it would cost - we'd only really use it to pick up a shared shopping list while in the supermarket, or whether there were delays on the tube.  We're not really watching streaming videos while in the pub etc

[#11]

Quote from: pint

As stated before it wouldnt take too much for plusnet to re-sell the fonera as an extra, as well as enabling users to connect to Fon wifi, the new fonera also acts as a wifi extender, fon are selling this for €34 or roughly £28. https://shop.fon.com/en/products/all

The flip side to this is 'Why should Plusnet get involved?'  If a customer really wants access to Fon they can already buy the necessary access point and the support burden doesn't is not borne by PN...

[#12]

Quote from: pwatson

The flip side to this is 'Why should Plusnet get involved?'  If a customer really wants access to Fon they can already buy the necessary access point and the support burden doesn't is not borne by PN...

But in the case of BT, don't they provide the necessary hardware at little or no extra cost?  i.e. as a benefit/incentive to consider when choosing their service.
In fact isn't it enabled by default, and if you want to opt out you can do so after joining BT Internet?

[#13]

Well I'd prefer something like OpenZone rather than something I need a strange piece of equipment for.

[#14]

If plusnet sold the fonera/re sold it they could:
Sell it at a discount as they would be buying in bulk
Make money from it by selling wifi access in the same way that fon sells access to people who dont have an account, form what i understand theres a payback scheme in place where a user can get 50% of the total spent when someone buys access through their router from what I understand this is un available in the UK, as BT get all the money instead of BT retail getting it it could go to plusnet.
Increase advertising, people connecting to a fon router currently get a BT splash page advertising BT services, as well changing the SSID from BTwifi-with-Fon to Plusnet_Fon
Sell it as a wifi booster with the added bonus of being able to access millions of wifi hotspots worldwide through fon, I understand that Sky are currently plugging some sort of magical wifi booster box.
Put a plusnet logo on it, and all over the UI as corporations love to see their logo plastered all over everything.

[#15]

I would like to use FON.  Now I have FTTC I wouldn't mind sharing bandwidth, however I am on the capped 40G package, BT do not count FON data in data caps, I believe ... could plusnet do the same?