As a new user here at mobileread, I feel I need to again post my feelings on wifi sharing as I have done elsewhere. I am in favor of sharing an open connection, but feel it is necessary to impose limitations to maintain a degree of control and prevent abuse.
I was an early adopter of and still share my broadband using
fon. Using a fon router, lets me (and others I have authorized) have secure access to all of my bandwidth, but also transmits another, unsecured, signal using a controllable portion of my bandwidth to "guests". The guests must register or log in to gain access to a connection to most sites, so I suppose this is not completely unsecured. Those guests who also share internet using fon are permitted full use of the limited bandwidth at no cost. Other guests are allowed access to my connection at no cost for 15 minutes daily. If they wish to use the connection for a longer period they can join fon, purchasing the right to use the connection of those sharing internet with fon at a very reasonable price. The net revenue is shared by fon 50/50 with the operator of the fon spot where the sale was initiated.
I have had only a couple users who paid to use the open connection, but had quite a few more who shared their own wifi through fon, or who were only using the daily sample 15 minute period. It has worked well for me since I have been able to gain "free" wifi access in six countries (France, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and US) while traveling.
I'm neither an employee of fon, nor do I receive any other benefit from them than those received by any other member. If you are interested after you read the
fon website and send me an email or pm, I can send you a referral email that will save you a bit (at least $10 when I last checked) if buying a router, a higher gain antenna, or other related things from them. Please don't ask unless you think you will use it as I can send only a few referrals.