(Click HERE for other tips, and HERE for other GPS POIs)

On the forums I see lot of questions regarding BT FON, and I’ve not seen a simple FAQ suitable for motorhomers, so I thought I’d write one to save me typing the same answers all the time!  Any questions just ask in the page comment section.

Page Index

• What is FON?
• How do you join?
• What is my username/password?
• Example of logging on
• Finding remote FON spots
• GPS POI Locations of FON Spots
• What if I’m not with BT Broadband?
• Raw data

 What is FON?

FON is “yet another” wifi hotspot company, though the difference to the norm is that they have teamed up with BT, so if you have BT Home Broadband then you can use all FON spots, globally free of charge.  FON is a sharing community, so if you join it, BT will also allow others to use your home broadband link (as you will be using others).  Worry not, this is separate and secure and does not use your monthly bandwidth allowance.

How do you join?

Since 2009 BT have automatically opted all new Broadband customers in – so just look at your WiFi networks in range of your home – if you have something like BT Homehub-A7B8 and BTOpenzone/BTFon then it is likely you are enrolled.  Simply try connecting to the FON/Openzone WiFi hotspot and see if you can access it!

If you aren’t registered – click HERE (BT Site)

What is my username/password?

Your username will be your BT Internet one, so fred7ab@btinternet.com and your password will be the password for this account.  If you don’t know, contact BT HERE

(Note:  On some logon screens, you will need to select “BT TOTAL BROADBAND” as your provider – NOT BT Openzone.  This may be a select button or a pull-down selection.  Sometimes, when you select BT Total Broadband the screen will refresh on another page)

On some pages, where you enter your username there may be faintly written underneath the box “@btinternet.com” – if you see this, you only need to enter the first part of your username – e.g. fred7ab as it will assume the @btinternet.com part

Example of Logging on

Here are some pictures of me logging on to a UK BT Openzone wifi hotspot.  First I simply connected WiFi to BT Openzone, and once connected opened up Internet Explorer.  You should then be presented with a logon page (actual pages vary).

The important thing is to remember you have a BT Total Broadband account – you do NOT have a FON or BT Openzone account.  So in this example, “tick” the BT Total Broadband box and type in your full username/password (then “login”).  You will then be presented with a screen confirming login was successful, and then you can use the internet as normal.

After 15 mins of inactivity or sometimes randomly you will be asked to log in again.

   

Finding remote FON spots

In the UK this is trivial due to the number of BT FON points, but abroad it is harder.  Also remember your laptop built-in WiFi only has a real range of maybe 10-15 meters, so finding a FON spot within that range is going to be very tough.  In my opinion you NEED a long-range wifi aerial (see HERE) – the one pictured here is the USB Rocket and gives a range of up to 500m (though 1-200m is more realistic).

You can see in the picture in the example above, my normal laptop WiFi (“Wireless network connection”) only sees a single wifi signal (2 bars) which I can’t access, but the rocket shows a BT home hub as well as the FON spots (4 bars power, and the other signal that was 2 bars now has full power). In this case the FON spot was about 150m away.  Without the rocket I’d not be able to access…

FON spots don’t always have the same name, so just look out for any with FON in the name!

GPS POI Locations of FON Spots

FON provide up-to-date locations of hotspots on http://maps.fon.com which is great if you are online but chocolate-teapot if you are not.  There are also Apple and Andoid apps which may allow you to take a snapshot of an area when online so you can access later.

I also have some Autoroute POI files of the locations which can be useful if you need to have internet access for some reason – and as Autoroute has full offline maps it is the best solution.  No point sticking in your satnav as there are so many your satnav may not cope.

For simplicity, all downloads been moved to a single page.  Click HERE to get the free downloads

Raw data for all European countries are listed below, these are CSV format so you can do with them what you like and import the into Autoroute.

 

What if I’m not with BT Broadband?

You have 3 choices, 1 – rejoin BT Broadband as this is one of their benefits; 2 – ask a family member who is a BT Broadband user for their username and password (ahem – thanks Dad!); 3 – buy a FON router and subscribe to that.

Details for option 3 are HERE (FON site) and this allows you to use your alternative broadband provider as well as share with BT FON.  This does however use your bandwidth allowance and may not be ideal….

Other FON POI Raw data

The following downloads should always be up to date

1. FR – France
2. JP – Japan
3. DE – Germany
4. ES – Spain
5. US – United States
6. IT – Italy
7. TW – Taiwan
8. SE – Sweden
9. KR – South Korea
10. NL – Netherlands
11. UK – United Kingdom
12. HK – Hong Kong
13. FI – Finland
14. PT – Portugal
15. CN – China
16. AT – Austria
17. DK – Denmark
18. BE – Belgium
19. HU – Hungary
20. CA – Canada
21. AC – Ascension island
22. AD – Andorra
23. AE – United Arab Emirates
24. AF – Afghanistan
25. AL – Albania
26. AN – Netherlands Antilles
27. AO – Angola
28. AQ – Antarctica
29. AR – Argentina
30. AS – American Samoa
31. AU – Australia
32. AW – Aruba
33. AX – Iles
34. AZ – Azerbaijan
35. BA – Bosnia and Herzegovina
36. BB – Barbados
37. BD – Bangladesh
38. BF – Burkina Faso
39. BG – Bulgaria
40. BH – Bahrain
41. BJ – Benin
42. BM – Bermuda
43. BO – Bolivia
44. BR – Brazil
45. BS – Bahamas
46. BT – Bhutan
47. BY – Belarus
48. BZ – Belize
49. CC – Cocos Keeling Islands
50. CD – Congo
51. CH – Switzerland
52. CI – Ivory Coast
53. CL – Chile
54. CM – Cameroon
55. CO – Colombia
56. CR – Costa Rica
57. CS – Serbia and Montenegro
58. CV – Cape Verde
59. CY – Cyprus
60. CZ – Czech Republic
61. DM – Dominica
62. DO – Dominican Republic
63. DZ – Algeria
64. EC – Ecuador
65. EE – Estonia
66. EG – Egypt
67. EH – Western Sahara
68. ET – Ethiopia
69. FJ – Fiji
70. GA – Gabon
71. GD – Grenada
72. GE – Georgia
73. GF – French Guiana
74. GG – Guernsey
75. GH – Ghana
76. GL – Greenland
77. GP – Guadeloupe
78. GQ – Equatorial Guinea
79. GR – Greece
80. GT – Guatemala
81. GY – Guyana
82. HM – Heard and McDonald islands
83. HN – Honduras
84. HR – Croatia
85. HT – Haiti
86. ID – Indonesia
87. IE – Ireland
88. IL – Israel
89. IM – Man Island
90. IN – India
91. IQ – Iraq
92. IR – Iran
93. IS – Iceland
94. JE – Jersey
95. JM – Jamaica
96. JO – Jordan
97. KE – Kenya
98. KH – Cambodia
99. KI – Kiribati
100. KP – North Korea
101. KW – Kuwait
102. KY – Cayman Islands
103. LB – Lebanon
104. LC – Saint Lucia
105. LI – Liechtenstein
106. LT – Lithuania
107. LU – Luxembourg
108. LV – Latvia
109. MA – Morocco
110. MC – Monaco
111. MG – Madagascar
112. MK – Macedonia
113. ML – Mali
114. MM – Myanmar
115. MN – Mongolia
116. MO – Macao
117. MQ – Martinique
118. MT – Malta
119. MU – Mauritius
120. MV – Maldives
121. MX – Mexico
122. MY – Malaysia
123. NA – Namibia
124. NC – New Caledonia
125. NG – Nigeria
126. NI – Nicaragua
127. NO – Norway
128. NZ – New Zealand
129. OM – Oman
130. PA – Panama
131. PE – Peru
132. PF – French Polynesia
133. PG – Papua New Guinea
134. PH – Philippines
135. PK – Pakistan
136. PL – Poland
137. PR – Puerto Rico
138. PS – Palestinian Territory
139. PW – Palau
140. PY – Paraguay
141. QA – Qatar
142. RE – Reunion
143. RO – Romania
144. RU – Russian Federation
145. SA – Saudi Arabia
146. SG – Singapore
147. SI – Slovenia
148. SK – Slovakia
149. SM – San Marino
150. SN – Senegal
151. SO – Somalia
152. SR – Suriname
153. SV – El Salvador
154. SZ – Swaziland
155. TH – Thailand
156. TJ – Tajikistan
157. TN – Tunisia
158. TR – Turkey
159. TT – Trinidad and Tobago
160. UA – Ukraine
161. UG – Uganda
162. UY – Uruguay
163. UZ – Uzbekistan
164. VC – St Vincent and Grenadines
165. VE – Venezuela
166. VI – Virgin Islands
167. VN – Viet Nam
168. YE – Yemen
169. YU – Serbia and Montenegro
170. ZA – South Africa
171. ZM – Zambia
172. ZW – Zimbabwe