Have PlusNet considered teaming up with Fon like BT do

[#1]

If you have a fon router/wifi thingy set up and connected to a plusnet account anything that goes over it will be taken from your allowance if your on a caped deal, the same goes for any other ISP with the exception of BT .

[#2]

Lack of "fon" availability is the reason I am considering returning to BT, it was a massive plus, so from this household, two votes for "Bring it on Plusnet."

[#3]

Quote from: IngeJones

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

If you don't have the equipment then there will not be the millions of hotspots available only a few hundred Openzone hotspots

Quote from: pint

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.

I joined FON before BT involvement so I'm a Bill and get the 50% payback. It was BT that stopped this payback in the UK even for people that joined directly with FON

[#4]

Sorry to bump an old thread - but I was searching for exactly this, so no point creating a new one.
My PN contract ends shortly, and I'm looking to get broadband that includes BTWifi and FON.
BT Broadband is shockingly expensive though.  I would happily buy a FON Device, but my understanding is that this only gets me access to FON hotspots, not BT Wifi - which seems to have more coverage

I'm a motorhomer, so free Wifi is massively advantageous.  And also a PAYG mobile customer now, so data costs are important to me - and there's a BT Wifi connection in my office that I currently cannot use.

Any word from PN on this?

[#5]

So, to sum up, BT offer some extra features that make their service attractive to you but charge extra for those features.  PN, however do not offer those features and, as a result, are cheaper.
You would like PN to offer the features that BT charge for, presumably without increasing their charges?  What's in it for them? 
Personally, I have no need for BT Wifi or FON so I'm glad that PN don't offer these services as I'd be paying for something that I don't need.  It seems that there's a fairly clear answer really... 

[#6]

I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for it.

[#7]

@IngeJones  - so go to BT
@pwatson +1

[#8]

Hi guys,
It doesn't seem likely that this will be offered I'm afraid.
My apologies for the inconvenience.
Matty

[#9]

petertr2000 comments
my understanding is that this only gets me access to FON hotspots, not BT Wifi - which seems to have more coverage
According to roughbeast on my Thinkbroadband thread http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/4349985-move-bt-to-plusnet-bt-fon.html?fpart=all&vc=1
I have been using FON for years now. I can access all BT FON hotspots and other FON hotspots nationally on my mobile devices.
Also see https://support.fon.com/hc/en-us/articles/200392162-What-s-the-difference-between-a-BT-WiFi-hotspot-...
Fon members still get the same incredible unlimited access to over 4 million hotspots across the UK. If you are a Fon member, just look for the ‘BTWiFi-with-Fon’ signal to connect for free.
I'm still wondering whether to get the FON device and sign up.  Points to note:

• With 'real' BT FON the visitor traffic does not count against your usage, with FON device on Plusnet it does.  Probably does not matter for those of us on unlimited.


• With 'real' BT FON the visitor traffic uses VPN and is seen as a separate IP from yours.  Apparently with the FON device this is not the case.  Could be an issue if a visitor uses your FON for illegal purposes.

[#10]

I have just signed up with FON and registered a hotspot.  I took a walk down the road and can connect to neighbours BT-WiFi with FON hotspots.
~~~~~
I did not get a Fonera router, I converted an old Linksys WRT54G that had been sitting in the cupboard.
I found a page about converting old wireless routers to FON: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3743591
His firmware links did not work, but I found links that did work for my old Linksys: http://rene.margar.fr/2011/02/firmware-fonbasic-0-6-7-pour-linksys-wrt54g/
I then followed http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3743041 for setting up the hotspot.
This is not as good as a FON router would be as it does not give me an additional private extended wireless network.
Follow the instructions very carefully.  Doing things in the wrong order mean you can't get to the FON registration page to register your router and give yourself the higher status that allows free FON usage.
I had to factory reset the router a couple of times after installing the new firmware to set it back into a 'register new router' frame of mind because I had done things a little wrong.
Be very careful to change the router password.  Otherwise anyone can connect, guess the router address from 'ipconfig' gateway, and log in to the router.

[#11]

Dang, I threw one of those routers in the bin about 3 months ago.

Quote from: pwatson

So, to sum up, BT offer some extra features that make their service attractive to you but charge extra for those features.  PN, however do not offer those features and, as a result, are cheaper. You would like PN to offer the features that BT charge for, presumably without increasing their charges?  What's in it for them?  Personally, I have no need for BT Wifi or FON so I'm glad that PN don't offer these services as I'd be paying for something that I don't need.  It seems that there's a fairly clear answer really...

Big difference between Plusnet and BT pricing.  Circa £5 vs £15.  Obviously its not worth paying £10 a month just for BTWifi.  But would have happily "opted-in" for a few quid.
Seems its not going to happen, so nevermind.
jim:quote

[#12]

Hi Guys
Again, I'm sorry that we currently are unable to offer any form of BT Fon or wifi options. I understand that this can be frustrating as like petertr2000, I go camping often, and these features I agree would be beneficial.
One alternative to consider is alternative ways of getting free wifi spots rather than through a broadband provider. For example many mobile network providers offer free wifi access, that's one option that I personally have used.
Again, I'm sorry that this is something that we at Plusnet can't currently provide, but thought it only fair to advise of the alternatives
Regards
Matt

[#13]

I really don't see the merit of this aside from the truly public access points.
In effect to join the club, you have to sacrifice someone your bandwidth for other club members to use when passing.  It requires an additional SSID station thereby creating more conflict in the wifi spectrum.  Who ends up with legal liability for what is down loaded against your router's IP address?
Having bundled access to BT Openzone is one thing, having to share my limited bandwidth for others to use too is something quite different.

[#14]

Quote from: sjptd

I did not get a Fonera router, I converted an old Linksys WRT54G that had been sitting in the cupboard.

That sounds better than paying £34 for a 'Fonera' as I did. 

Quote from: petertr2000

Big difference between Plusnet and BT pricing.  Circa £5 vs £15.  Obviously its not worth paying £10 a month just for BTWifi.  But would have happily "opted-in" for a few quid. Seems its not going to happen, so nevermind.

Maybe time to look on eBay for a cheap replacement for the Linksys WRT54G you unfortunately threw away, then do as sjptd described above 

[#15]

Quote from: Townman

In effect to join the club, you have to sacrifice someone your bandwidth for other club members to use when passing. ... Having bundled access to BT Openzone is one thing, having to share my limited bandwidth for others to use too is something quite different.

You needn't necessarily share much bandwidth as you can set limits in the Fon device - and if your router allows you could also limit the bandwidth on the LAN port to which the Fon device is connected.  I haven't personally restricted the bandwidth allowed too tightly as I think that goes against the spirit of the agreement - but then again, nobody has connected via my Hotspot yet so time will tell!