Social networking meets wifi

Here's an interesting idea.

A Spanish firm is to sell subsidised routers as part of a plan to turn domestic wi-fi networks into public hotspots. Fon will sell wi-fi routers, which allow people to surf the net wirelessly, for $5 (£2.75). The company, which has financial backing from Google and Skype, aims to create public wi-fi networks street by street across the US and Europe....
The company is hoping to create a "social movement" as well as a business. ...

Users install software on their home PCs which then lets other people access their wi-fi network safely - if they can pick up the signals from outside their homes. In exchange for receiving a router, users must agree to share their wireless connections with other Fon users for 12 months, the company said.