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At the Mobile World Congress, Skype introduced new partners in its Skype Access program. This partner program lets Skype users pay for access to Wi-Fi hotspots from a number of partner companies from their Skype accounts. This way, they can access the networks on a pay-as-you-go, per-minute basis rather than needing to pay by the hour, as is usually the case.
UK-based Wi-Fi provider Fon has recently teamed up with US-based e-mail and text messaging device maker Peek to create the PeekFon brand in Europe. Under the partnership, PeekFon will offer users no roaming charges in any European country, letting users send and receive e-mails and texts over GPRS data networks. Fon works on the principle of sharing Wi-Fi access, with subscribers to a home service that open it to other Fon users receiving access in return wherever they are in their travels across Europe. The PeekFon will get rid of the need to find one of the claimed 800,000 hotspots throughout Europe.
Fon today formally rolled out its once-teased Fonera 2.0n router. The new update adds 802.11n Wi-Fi speeds but is better known for adding built-in clients for several services independently of computers. Owners can upload content to Facebook, Flickr, Megaupload, Picasa, RapidShare and YouTube when the relevant computer is turned off; it can also download BitTorrents and send Twitter updates to signal when a transfer has been completed or a guest connects to the public hotspot.
FON today significantly improved its core wireless router by launching the Fonera 2.0n. The device appropriately has 802.11n Wi-Fi for faster speeds and longer ranges than the older 11g model. More importantly, though, it adds USB and dedicated clients for multiple services directly on the router. Owners can download from BitTorrent, Megaupload or Rapidshare to USB storage without turning on a computer; they can also upload photos or videos to Facebook, Flickr, Picasa or YouTube from an attached camera.
FON on Thursday held a small, informal demonstration of its Fonera 2.0/La Fonera+ router in Paris, announcing in will be made available in Europe on April 21st, with other markets that include the USA, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan being added in May. Compared to the original La Fonera, the new Wi-Fi router adds an extra LAN port that allows users to connect a wired device. The new device also can share 3G data network access as a Wi-Fi connection and users can set how much of their own bandwidth they want to share with other FON members.
A collaboration between software developer Joikusoft and FON was announced by the two companies on Friday that will involve using 3G-enabled phones to act as Wi-Fi hotspots. The two will release a version of JoikuSpot -- called FonSpot -- that will allow 3G data network-enabled cellular phones to connect with multiple laptops, Internet tablets and other Wi-Fi capable devices and provide them with Internet access.
