xfinity wifi hotspots

[ericgtr12]

Suddenly I'm seeing xfinity wifi hotspots all over my neighborhood and my network connection changed over to it automatically from my MBP which prompted me to login to xfinity with my comcast credentials. I had no idea why it was prompting at first, it appears as if it's enabling this functionality through neighbors modems without their knowledge. Anyone else seeing this?

 

[D.T.]

Two days ago, Comcast did something that would be inconceivable if it was any other company than Comcast: It turned 50,000 residential Xfinity modems into public WiFi hotspots. There are 50,000 paying Xfinity customers in Houston, Texas who are now broadcasting free WiFi that anyone can use. As far as Comcast is concerned, of course, this is a genius move to blanket the country in high-speed WiFi (and there are plans to hijack millions more modems by the end of 2014) — for Comcast’s customers, though, this is egregious monopolistic overreach taken to the next level… and it’s possibly illegal as well.

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...hotspots-millions-more-by-the-end-of-the-year

 

[ericgtr12]

Thanks, it appears they're hijacking paying users' modems to co-opt this. You can turn it off but you have to make a deliberate action and follow the instructions in order to do it. They must have found a legal loophole for this but they're screwing their customers.

 

[chown33]

That low rumbling sound is the lawyers falling over themselves to be first to file a class-action suit against Comcast.

 

[maflynn]

Thanks, it appears they're hijacking paying users' modems to co-opt this. You can turn it off but you have to make a deliberate action and follow the instructions in order to do it. They must have found a legal loophole for this but they're screwing their customers.

This is why I have my own cable modem and separate router.

 

[ericgtr12]

Personally, I use my own router so it's not an issue. It only appears to work if you use their wifi within their own modem. I guess with the proper security in place it's not much different than everyone using the same nodes for wired signals, still seems underhanded though.
[doublepost=1455040795][/doublepost]

This is why I have my own cable modem and separate router.

Jinx!

 

[maflynn]

Jinx!

In all seriousness, I wondered about this as I saw more and more xfinity hotspots pop up in residential neighborhoods. Since I have non-comcast cable modem and my own router. I felt I was pretty safe from having them steal the bandwidth that I'm paying for.

 

[ericgtr12]

In all seriousness, I wondered about this as I saw more and more xfinity hotspots pop up in residential neighborhoods. Since I have non-comcast cable modem and my own router. I felt I was pretty safe from having them steal the bandwidth that I'm paying for.

I downloaded their iPhone app, it shows every modem that is broadcasting and you can click on "view in google maps" to see the street view of the house that's (likely unknowingly) broadcasting. Just wow.

 

[yg17]

Thanks, it appears they're hijacking paying users' modems to co-opt this. You can turn it off but you have to make a deliberate action and follow the instructions in order to do it. They must have found a legal loophole for this but they're screwing their customers.

Wow. **** that.

So what happens when somebody uses a stranger's Comcast hotspot to download kiddie porn? When the authorities come knocking, will Comcast have any way of knowing who downloaded what?

 

[hallux]

So, are they going to start giving people credit on their bills for the shared usage of their internet connection?

There's another provider that does this, isn't there? Charter maybe? It's probably in the TOS agreed to when signing up for their service.

 

[C DM]

That low rumbling sound is the lawyers falling over themselves to be first to file a class-action suit against Comcast.

Wow. **** that.

So what happens when somebody uses a stranger's Comcast hotspot to download kiddie porn? When the authorities come knocking, will Comcast have any way of knowing who downloaded what?

So, are they going to start giving people credit on their bills for the shared usage of their internet connection?

There's another provider that does this, isn't there? Charter maybe? It's probably in the TOS agreed to when signing up for their service.

Based on the available information about it all out there, the connection is separate from the private customer connection so that its usage doesn't relate to or affect the customer. The ability to disable it by the customer from their account is there. They have also already been sued over it all. More information can be found in various online articles, like the one at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...ers-for-turning-routers-into-public-hotspots/