FON, an up-and-coming Spanish company, hopes to “build a Wifi world” by delegating bandwidth distribution to its own customers. The program is based on its core users, called Linuses (not to be confused with Linux, a Unix-based operating system), who use a free software package to turn their own wireless routers into FON access points. Linuses are allowed to access any FON access point for free. When the program kicks into its next phase, two more categories of customers will be added: Aliens, who do not provide a FON access point and must pay a “modest fee” each time they access the Internet via a FON access point,; and Bills, who provide an access point and receive 50 percent of the revenue FON gathers from it, but do not receive free usage of other FON access points.
