For those who check their email at home...

[Michael ODonnell]

  http://news.com.com/2102-7351_3-6087680.html?tag=st.util.print

Not sure whether the Linksys model in question is the Linux-
capable one.  Anyway, here's the first part of the article:

> FON, a Spanish start-up on an ambitious crusade to turn home Wi-Fi
> connections into wireless "hotspots" for nearby users, is set to
> unveil on Monday a plan to hand out 1 million wireless routers for just
> $5 apiece.
>
> FON, which aims to create a network of home users and small businesses to
> resell wireless access to passersby, said on Sunday it will subsidize
> $60 Cisco Systems' Linksys or Buffalo routers for $5 in the United
> States or 5 euros in Europe.
>
> Routers are small boxes users connect to cable or telephone Internet
> connections to broadcast wireless signals to nearby devices, inside a
> home, business or surrounding neighborhood.
>
> Juergen Urbanski, North American general manager, said FON, which in
> February raised $21.7 million from backers including the founders of
> Google and Skype, is looking to turn the brand-name equipment into what
> it calls "social routers."
>
> The goal of the Madrid-based company is to build block-by-block networks
> of shared wireless connections around the globe, turning local Wi-Fi
> users into an army of "foneros"--its term for people who share wireless
> access.
>
> As the company's name implies, FON aims to provide wireless Internet
> access not just to computer users but also for mobile phones and the
> latest portable gaming devices as they roam.
>
> "(Wi-Fi) coverage is universal in big cites, but access is not,"
> Urbanski said of how many of the wireless Internet links broadcasting
> from businesses, homes, hotels and cafes remain private and unavailable,
> even to users ready to pay for them.
>
> Urbanski, a former director of marketing at data storage maker Network
> Appliance, said FON is aiming to have 50,000 working hotspots worldwide
> by September, 150,000 by year-end and 1 million hotspots by the end
> of 2007.
>
> So far, 54,000 people globally have signed up to become "foneros,"
> up from 3,000 in February, according to the company.  The $5 router
> giveaway is designed to overcome obstacles to helping consumers quickly
> set up hotspots using FON software.
>
> In exchange for receiving a $5 box, users must agree to share their
> wireless connections with other FON users for 12 months, the company
> said.  Shipping and taxes are extra.

	[...etc, etc...]