does bt fon actually work?

I signed up for bt total broadband and was led to believe that bt was a partner to fon and that I would to use bt,s advert: roam for free.
After 150 e mails to both bt and their partners fon and to a company called zon in portugal, who are also or rather appear to be bt,s partner in portugal. Needless to say I am not very popular with any of them.
Basically bt fon does not seem to work. You are not a foneiro with a bt router and this may well be the reason. you cannot roam for free in europe. even though bts advert suggests that you can and even suggest that you click on a map to show you all the fon spots in your area. The good bit is that BT insist that all the fon routers that I can pick up are not working and thats all 14 of them!
I would guess that I have to buy a fon router to join the fon system, thats no big problem but bt do say that I should be able to access the fon system with the router they supply. I can in the uk but not in europe.
After all this waffle
the basic question I have is that has anyone successfully used bt total broadband with bt fon enabled been able to log onto a zon-fon-free-internet router in Portugal, I will be grateful for any answers. regards

I've managed it before using a friends login (I had permission) in France

When you log onto the FON page abroad there's an option called BTFON where it says buy a pass. Click this, you then login as normal.

Don't login on the automatic landing page as this connects you to the service provider in that country, not BT. You need to click onto BTFON

Could be different in Portugal

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 28-Jun-11 10:33:14)

I cannot get onto the landing page for love nor money, I have also screen shots of 6 zon-fon-free-internet routers any of which I should be able to log onto. All I get is (limited connectivity), which according to bt is my wireless connection connecting to the other router, which according to bt are all offline. I am now going to buy a fon router ( a genuine one) and join the fon system properly. The ( I hope and think) reason that I am not a foneiro is that the bt route rdoes not make you a foneiro in the true sense. I have no confidence at all in BT as I have been unable to speak to anyone who has done more than a 2 day course on the subject. I am sure that someone at bt knows if it is working or not or that it may be a software problem.
I cannot get onto the landing page to click the bt logo. I have to repeat that as thats what most people tell me to do.
When I have the fon router fitted on my phone line in england) i will try in portugal again.
Its all rather poor that after advertising it bt have completely failed to provide it, I call it the care center syndrome, I only wish ( if it then works) to dump the bt router on the boss of bts desk spilling his whiskey at the time, but thats not likely tom happen.
regards

In reply to a post by southerly:

I cannot get onto the landing page for love nor money, I have also screen shots of 6 zon-fon-free-internet routers any of which I should be able to log onto. All I get is (limited connectivity), which according to bt is my wireless connection connecting to the other router,

This actually does sound correct.

With the Free Fon spots (either Fon, or BT-Fon), you can always access the welcome page asking you to login.

On Fon (not BT-Fon) spots, you can also view any web sites that the Fon owner wants to allow you on for free.

Matt

I cannot get onto the landing page

having a 'genuine' fon login is not going to change this, because you dont get to a point to enter login details.
I suspect your wireless network card isnt getting all its networking details from the fon router.
do you have a different dns supplier,/ fixed ip address/ gateway etc, on the laptop? - or disabled 'unsecured' networks? //edit: or aggressive firewalls//
does it work to fon (or btfon) routers in UK?

Edited by ggremlin (Tue 28-Jun-11 20:35:11)

From the way he seems to be approaching the problem, I think he is trying to take his router with him! I don't think he understands FON.

You are approaching this all wrong.

ANYONE can access the BT FON landing page

You can connect with an ipod touch, iphone, blackberry, laptop. ANY wifi device.

You do not use a router of your own

FON is generally hosted by a cafe or by a homeowner

Basically, Mr bloggs signs upto BT broadband

A homehub arrives whiich broadcasts BT FON and BT openzone aswell as the BT broadband wireless signal.

Somebody is sat outside Mr Bloggs house with a Laptop. They click Wifi networks next to the clock and connect to BTFON. This= is similar to yourself connecting

This connects to Mr Blogg's BT HOMEHUB. The homehub then routes through to the landing page

IF Mr Bloggs turns his homehub off, the fon network no longer exists.

When you are abroad, say in Portugal. You will see a FON network in wifi next to the clock

This will connect in the same way as the homehub, no router needed. You just hope whoevers hosting the FON network doesn't unplug it!

Of course abroad, the FON network is not hosted by BT broadband, BUT when you connect to the FON network abroad, there is an option for BT.

SOME networks are hosted differently, but this is a general idea.

The fact you're not getting to the landing page suggests you're doing something wrong. Even if it wasn't compatible with BT, as you suggest, you'd still see a landing page of somesort. Unless you are not connecting to FON at all - which I'm sure you are.

EDIT: To connect to FON you only need the device you want to work online. It has to be wifi enabled

E.g. if you want your Laptop to work via FON, you only need your Laptop.

No router of your own, no special gadgets. Just the Laptop.

This is what makes fon so great, you just take your laptop in a bag. Turn it on, connect to the wifi network, login and away you go.

If this is a continuous problem I'd suggest a problem with your hardware or what you're doing. Not the networks.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Wed 29-Jun-11 00:42:44)

FON is disabled by default in the HH3 (thought Big-Brother would have enabled it!).

It is easily enabled from the Hub Home page http://192.168.1.254/

I think he is trying to take his router with him!

would actually be a neat way to do it...
but, unfortunatly, it dosnt work like that

In reply to a post by ggremlin:

I think he is trying to take his router with him!

would actually be a neat way to do it...
but, unfortunatly, it dosnt work like that

Quite!

But how else do you account for his not being able to see Fon landing screens, and for his thinking changing his own router, (several times?), will make a difference?

I wonder if he is in hotels and trying to connect his router to a room internet connection?