BTOpenzone and BTFON

[eGuru]

I renewed my contract with BT broadband last year and got a better deal plus new BTHomehub. Just discovered that other users can access my hub under the BTOpenzone scheme, effectively using my connection as a hotspot.

Anyone here know whether the security my connection would be compromised? Also not happy that BT forgot to mention this when I renewed my contract

 

[w124coupe]

The quid pro quo is that you can also use any of the similarly-configured hotspots - many thousands of them.

Its no less secure as its a separate SSID.

Also, if you don't want to be part of FON, just go to the hub menu and turn it off...

 

[Chrishazle]

I wondered what this was when I started seeing BTFON and BTOpenzone wireless networks available - as well as BTHomehub. Quite a few of my neighbours seem to be on BT - I'm on Wanadoo. I've had to move my channel from 6 to 11 as the home hubs seem to be on 7 and thus, although their signal strength is low, they seemed to be interfering with my connection!
Thanks for the info.

 

[fuzzer]

Seems like a good idea in principle , but because of all the greedy people persuing users for the "copyright infringement" with torrents etc i dunno if i would open mine up for public access.

 

[w124coupe]

Seems like a good idea in principle , but because of all the greedy people persuing users for the "copyright infringement" with torrents etc i dunno if i would open mine up for public access.

That's why the FON is on a separate SSID - so the ad-hoc usage is not logged against the householder.

Its all purely optional anyway - takes about 5 sec to opt out.

 

[fuzzer]

That's why the FON is on a separate SSID - so the ad-hoc usage is not logged against the householder.

Its all purely optional anyway - takes about 5 sec to opt out.

cool

 

[N7OGP]

has anybody ever connected to a FON or OPENZONE hot spot outside there home?. i have never been able to find any.

 

[jasonyw]

has anybody ever connected to a FON or OPENZONE hot spot outside there home?. i have never been able to find any.

If your O2 sim card is also data enabled you can buy a USB modem/WWAN card from O2 shop and plug it on your laptop or PC and you get wireless internet but then you have to pay for your calls debited to your O2 sim card. I spent days trying to get it to work for I need wireless internet on the road, signal was pretty poor outside town centre areas. In town you get good reception using Cloud. In the end I wasted my effort to get it to work, I rather borrow the customers internet connection instead.

 

[eGuru]

That's why the FON is on a separate SSID - so the ad-hoc usage is not logged against the householder.

Its all purely optional anyway - takes about 5 sec to opt out.

Thanks for the input, will opt out of this scheme. A little annoyed that BT made no mention of this when I renewed my contract.

 

[jasonyw]

Thanks for the input, will opt out of this scheme. A little annoyed that BT made no mention of this when I renewed my contract.

Wise move, you are actually assisting them to generate more revenue at your electric bill expense however if you need mobile internet then reception will be non existence if everyone like you opt-out.

If you read carefully if you have a BT router, you get free mobile internet anywhere you go even the whole world as they claimed. You just have to exploit the potential using shareware. I quite like the idea but then......

 

[w124coupe]

Wise move, you are actually assisting them to generate more revenue at your electric bill expense however if you need mobile internet then reception will be non existence if everyone like you opt-out.

If you read carefully if you have a BT router, you get free mobile internet anywhere you go even the whole world as they claimed. You just have to exploit the potential using shareware. I quite like the idea but then......

What?

The increase in electricity by your router will be absolutely minute (if any) as the router is on anyway. you can still use the overnight wifi power down options if you want to.

Membership of FON, by opting in, gives you the ability to logon free at many thousands of FON hotspots - nothing to do with mobile internet - this is WIFI.

You just use your browser to logon - no shareware involved....

There's no rocket science or even complexity here - use it if its useful and don't if its not!

For example, I have a 3G contract with 1GB per month to use for mobile internet but supplement it with FON use for big downloads (that would exceed my 3G allowance and cost me more). There are masses of FON spots in London that work for me! (there's a search app online).

 

[jasonyw]

The quid pro quo is that you can also use any of the similarly-configured hotspots - many thousands of them.

Its no less secure as its a separate SSID.

Also, if you don't want to be part of FON, just go to the hub menu and turn it off...

I got one of those version 1.5 router, how do I turn FON off?

I can't find it anywhere after I entered admin. Please help.

PM me if you wish. Thanks.

 

[x332race]

I signed up to "Fon" about 3 weeks ago....since then I have desperately tried to find wifi hotspots to log on, mainly in central london.....found very few and none of them convenient. Not sure how much use "fon" is at the moment.

 

[jasonyw]

I got one of those version 1.5 router, how do I turn FON off?

I can't find it anywhere after I entered admin. Please help.

PM me if you wish. Thanks.

Can someone please confirm, all I need to do to to click off the WDS for the repeater and possibly disable broadcasting SSID.

 

[crockers]

just opened my "networks" and noticed that there is a BTFON and a BTopenzone listed as non secure.... can anyone log into them or do you need a special password or software to access them (non BT customer here)

 

[jasonyw]

just opened my "networks" and noticed that there is a BTFON and a BTopenzone listed as non secure.... can anyone log into them or do you need a special password or software to access them (non BT customer here)

If you are not a BT customer you have nothing to worry. These are the BT routers, BT are taking advantage to provide free BT Fon and BT Openzone. You can actually hack into these routers and hijack it if the owners did not change the default password. I am not going to say anything how it being done.

 

[Chrishazle]

A friend was having internet problems recently and there was a BTFon and BTOpenzone network available - tried to log onto both, got a BT page requesting payment!

 

[eGuru]

Can someone please confirm, all I need to do to to click off the WDS for the repeater and possibly disable broadcasting SSID.

There is some info here:

How can I turn my BT Openzone service on and off? | Help & Support | BT.com

 

[davidmi]

Fon is a good idea in principle that doesn't yet work in practice. My wife had it set up at home in the UK and while I was living in France I looked up the three or four Fonspots in my local town since a broadband connection was not feasible. All were in places where turning up outside with your laptop or parking your car (if possible) would have resulted in release of dogs or suspicious neighbours calling the gendarmes. What would you do if you saw an unknown car parked outside your house with the occupant fumbling away at something inside? Such signals as I risked getting were too weak for use, anyway. Far easier abroad to find a café, a MacDonalds, supermarket or similar giving free Wi-Fi access and a car park. I used a local café and when it closed for a month for holidays, they left both routers switched on so I and others could carry on using the system in the park opposite!

 

[crockers]

I have just switched to BT from AOL and I have noticed a gain in speed - BUT the question is as I am just getting around 1mb and BTFON and openzone allows someone else to use my connection upto 512kb am I slowing up my connection? If so I will turn it off - I can always opt back in if going away etc..