Comcast wifi free for the masses on your dime

[Dustbuster]

Interesting read, anyway they can make money on that copper, and off customers:

Comcast, a perennial champion in the “Most Hated Companies” surveys, has now figured out a way to have me pay to help construct a nationwide network of public WiFi hotspots, using equipment inside my house. Comcast plans to offer public access to the WiFi network inside my house for rates starting at $2.95 an hour.

Here’s how it works.

Like most Comcast customers, I rent my cable modem from Comcast for $7 a month. The cable modem has within it a wireless internet radio transmitter, which allows me to create my home WiFi network.

When a friend visited last week and wanted to connect his computer to my wireless network, he asked me which network to use: WeaselNet, my private network, which required a password, or XFINITY WIFI, a public network that did not require a password. Both showed four-bar signals, the strongest WiFi signals in the house.

A bit of poking around revealed that the mysterious new XFINITY WIFI public network signal was so strong inside my house because it was actually inside my house. In fact, it was in the same Comcast router that operates my private home network.

Okay, I’m a bit slow. Simple research reveals that Comcast started testing the XFINITY WIFI service in a handful of cities last year. Comcast is now expanding the scheme, equipping all of its new cable modems – they call them “wireless gateways” — with this dual-network WiFi capability. But it didn’t hit home until it hit my home.

The second, public network is created by default. The network’s SSID (Service Set Identifier, the code that allows computer, tablets, phones and other devices to connect to the wireless network) is broadcast to the world.

Comcast does not ask permission to set up a second, public network inside my house, using the bandwidth that I’m paying for. It does not ask permission to route the data traffic of strangers through the same router that handles my private network. No, Comcast is The Honey Badger.

Comcast calls this a “feature enhancement.” A Comcast spokesman said, “The wireless gateways rent for $7 a month and there’s no additional charge for enabling the public networks.”


IT’S A FEATURE, NOT A BUG
Me: Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup.

Comcast: Don’t worry sir. No extra charge.

Me: Waiter, there’s also a strange man sitting at my table.

Comcast: You have an extra chair at the table, and he’s paying to eat whatever soup you have left over. There’s no extra charge to you for the companionship.

Me: Whoa. Now there’s a big snake. He looks scary.

Comcast: He’s renting the other chair, waiting for the fly. No extra charge.

It’s a brilliant strategy: Comcast doesn’t have to spend a dime to build out a nationwide mesh of wireless hotspots. Instead, it has its customers pay for both the hardware and the bandwidth. Comcast then generates megabucks in new profits by re-selling access to the hardware and bandwidth. If people squawk, Comcast merely points out that it, not the customer, owns the box. If the customer doesn’t like it, they can switch to another broadband provider.


SWITCH?
Oops. Silly me. There isn’t another broadband provider in most towns, if you use the same definition of broadband that the rest of the world uses. If the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is approved, there will be even less competition.

So let’s add up the pros and cons, starting with the pros.

As long as I remain a paying Comcast customer, I get free access to the public wireless network when I’m out of the house.
Instead of using up my data allowance on 4G wireless telephone carrier networks, I can freeload on some other Comcast sucker’s home WiFi network.
The next time I buy a tablet computer, I might decide not to pay extra for the 4G radio and monthly telephone company wireless service fees, because Comcast will soon be a nationwide monopoly and half the broadband households in America will be open hotspots.
I live in the last house on a dead-end street in a small town, so the chances of weirdoes parking in front of my house to use my broadband connection are minimal.
And now the cons.

Despite Comcast’s assurances to the contrary, I’m unconvinced that increased network traffic will not slow down my home broadband service. Comcast says there is more than enough capacity on the feed into my house to accommodate any extra traffic. If that’s the case, why do my network speeds so often fall woefully short of the speeds I’m paying for? Why does my system slow to a crawl on Friday nights when all the neighbor kids are streaming movies and playing online games? Comcast says:
“The broadband connection to your home will be unaffected by the XFINITY WIFI feature. Your in-home WiFi network, as well as XFINITY WIFI, use shared spectrum, and as with any shared medium there can be some impact as more devices share WiFi. We have provisioned the XFINITY WiFii feature to support robust usage, and therefore, we anticipate minimal impact to the in-home WiFi network.”

Comcast’s customer service reps were unable to answer my questions: Does XFINITY WIFI run on the same channel as my private home network, in which case my network performance will definitely suffer? Or does it run on a separate channel, in which case it will probably interfere with my private home network?
Wireless networks are notoriously hard to secure. I simply don’t believe Comcast when it says there is no risk in allowing a stranger to directly connect to the router that controls my private home network. Once on the public network, the proverbial 14-year-old hacker would have little problem hijacking the router and taking control of my private network, where he or she could intercept all my user names and passwords, etc. If I’ve allowed sharing on the network, the hacker would have access to the files on every shared device.
Let’s go to Comcast’s XFINITY WIFI FAQ:


A DISCOUNT?
Q. Is Comcast going to give me a discount?

[Hysterical laughter]

Okay, I made that one up. But the next two are verbatim:

Q. How do I disable/enable the XFINITY WIFI Home Hotspot feature?

“We encourage all subscribers to keep this feature enabled as it allows more people to enjoy the benefits of XFINITY WIFI around the neighborhood. You will always have the ability to disable the XFINITY WIFI feature on your Wireless Gateway by calling 1-800-XFINITY. You can also visit My Account at http://customer.comcast.com/, click on “Users & Preferences,” and then select “Manage XFINITY WIFI.”

Q. What happens if I choose to disable the Home Hotspot feature?

“We encourage all subscribers to keep this feature enabled as it allows more people to enjoy the benefits of XFINITY WIFI around the neighborhood. You will always have the ability to disable the XFINITY WIFI feature on your Wireless Gateway by calling 1-800-XFINITY. You can also visit My Account at http://customer.comcast.com/, click on “Users & Preferences,” and then select “Manage XFINITY WIFI.”

I guess Comcast doesn’t want me to disable the XFINITY WIFI network. And if Comcast doesn’t want me to do something, it goes to the top of my To Do list.

I’m now shopping to buy my own cable box. Comcast can’t force me to create a public wireless network on a box that it doesn’t own.

And then maybe I’ll set up my own open public network – after hiding my private SSID and firewalling the hell out of it – under the Open Wireless Movement, because a free, open, nationwide, wireless broadband network is a good idea.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 of course it ate my spelling.

[Hozzie]

Thanks for sharing. I have my own modem, but it makes more sense now why they were pushing me to use theirs even outside of the $7 they want to charge.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[felinesNfreedom]

Well, I just switched to comcast form U verse. I have a comcast modem but will not be looking into buying my own.Thanks for the heads up.

[Guest drv2fst]

I wonder if traffic from the public wifi network has the same external IP as traffic from your internal wifi or wired devices?  You can test that by going to whatismyip.com from something that is internal and something that is on the public wifi.

 

If it's the same IP there is also a legal liability issue.  You are legally liable for any traffic connected to your IP address.

 

Disclaimer:  I am not a lawyer, these are issues I studied a while ago when I operated a business that had a publicly accessible office and we intentionally provided public wifi for our guests.

Edited June 6, 2014 by drv2fst

[Mike.357]

good luck to anyone who wants to leach my internet,  the stuff barely works in every room of the house much less outside of it.

[netmindr]

I wonder if traffic from the public wifi network has the same external IP as traffic from your internal wifi or wired devices?  You can test that by going to whatismyip.com from something that is internal and something that is on the public wifi.

 

If it's the same IP there is also a legal liability issue.  You are legally liable for any traffic connected to your IP address.

 

Disclaimer:  I am not a lawyer, these are issues I studied a while ago when I operated a business that had a publicly accessible office and we intentionally provided public wifi for our guests.

 

On my modem it seems to be a public IP on the xfinitywifi connection. However, I agree with Dustbuster, that even though they may have partitioned the networks, if they are both being served by the same physical router, there's a way that someone could access one network from the other. And if they have bandwidth a'plenty for this, surely they can increase everyone's paid pipeline.

 

I've tried going to their web site to disable it like it states in Dustbuster's quote from their FAQ. Guess what, an unexpected error occurs. I will be calling them soon to have this turned off on my modem. If I want a guest network in my house I can configure that myself. If they won't, I'm going back to my personal modem. I only use theirs because it was cheaper for me to get a deal on their triple play bundle with voice and my modem did not support voice. I figured if it was free I may as well have it. Otherwise, I have no use for a land line.

 

Maybe when Google Fiber starts rolling out that will create some competition. That is unless Google decides to do the same thing.

 

Even though this is obviously a business decision to increase Comcasts' footprint, I'm wondering if this has anything to do with Obummer's idea to give free wifi to the masses - on our dime.

[Guest drv2fst]

On my modem it seems to be a public IP on the xfinitywifi connection. However, I agree with Dustbuster, that even though they may have partitioned the networks, if they are both being served by the same physical router, there's a way that someone could access one network from the other. And if they have bandwidth a'plenty for this, surely they can increase everyone's paid pipeline.

 

I've tried going to their web site to disable it like it states in Dustbuster's quote from their FAQ. Guess what, an unexpected error occurs. I will be calling them soon to have this turned off on my modem. If I want a guest network in my house I can configure that myself. If they won't, I'm going back to my personal modem. I only use theirs because it was cheaper for me to get a deal on their triple play bundle with voice and my modem did not support voice. I figured if it was free I may as well have it. Otherwise, I have no use for a land line.

 

Maybe when Google Fiber starts rolling out that will create some competition. That is unless Google decides to do the same thing.

 

Even though this is obviously a business decision to increase Comcasts' footprint, I'm wondering if this has anything to do with Obummer's idea to give free wifi to the masses - on our dime.

 

 

Yes, your private side of the connection will have a public IP and the public wifi side will also have a public IP.  My question is: Are they the same IP?  If so, then I think that you are being exposed to additional liability.  If someone sends SPAM emails, HATE emails, downloads copyrighted materials, ...... that all gets logged to your IP address.

 

Google seems to generally take a pretty broad stance that what's theirs is theirs and what's yours is also theirs.  So, I wouldn't hold my breath for them being any different in this case.  Having said that, I'm REALLY glad that they are stepping up to provide competition in this market.  Someone with deep pockets really needs to.

[btq96r]

I haven't had a Comcast modem since I started service with them back in November.  This is what I have set up in my home.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XC6GJ0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A3YN0Z0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

They make routers that can run in the 5GHz range now, but the one listed has been fine for my wi-fi needs.  The modem specs claim it can handle 172Mbps download/131Mbps upload; the router claims up to 300Mbps.  That's well beyond any internet package a normal house will need for a good while.  I fully expect to have these two things running wherever I live for about 5 more years.

 

All you need to give Comcast is the MAC address for the router- they don't need anything else to send the signal to it and from there. After that, you're in charge of your own network.  It's not difficult at all and if you have any questions, PM me and I can walk you through it.

 

A bonus I've noticed is that I never have to reset modem or router.  They function flawlessly and at a combined price coming in under $100, they pay for themselves after the 14th month.

Edited June 6, 2014 by btq96r

[bersaguy]

The only thing Comcast in my house is two TV's and that will be the only two things ever to be Comcast in my house. I get offers every day in the mail offering me spectacular deals on bundles and I never even open them. They never even make it in the house but go in trash can outside.................jmho

[Guest drv2fst]

I haven't had a Comcast modem since I started service with them back in November.  This is what I have set up in my home.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XC6GJ0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A3YN0Z0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

They make routers that can run in the 5GHz range now, but the one listed has been fine for my wi-fi needs.  The modem specs claim it can handle 172Mbps download/131Mbps upload; the router claims up to 300Mbps.  That's well beyond any internet package a normal house will need for a good while.  I fully expect to have these two things running wherever I live for about 5 more years.

 

All you need to give Comcast is the MAC address for the router- they don't need anything else to send the signal to it and from there. After that, you're in charge of your own network.  It's not difficult at all and if you have any questions, PM me and I can walk you through it.

 

A bonus I've noticed is that I never have to reset modem or router.  They function flawlessly and at a combined price coming in under $100, they pay for themselves after the 14th month.

 

I've often considered getting my own cable modem.  The reason I haven't is support.  I have to call Comcast every 6 months or so to fix something.  They have stated that as long as it's their equipment these service calls are free.  If I get my own equipment, they charge for every service call.  I feel certain that whatever the problem really is, they will find a way to blame it on equipment that is not theirs.

[btq96r]

I've often considered getting my own cable modem.  The reason I haven't is support.  I have to call Comcast every 6 months or so to fix something.  They have stated that as long as it's their equipment these service calls are free.  If I get my own equipment, they charge for every service call.  I feel certain that whatever the problem really is, they will find a way to blame it on equipment that is not theirs.

 

Think about what you're calling to get fixed.  Is it their equipment, or the signal itself?  If you have your own equipment, everything up to the outlet is still their responsibility, after that it's on you and you can call Motorola or even Google troubleshooting steps before you need Comcast.  I'd wager 99 times out of 100 it's the signal and not the equipment.  I've never had a problem with my stuff, but YMMV.

 

The modem lets you go into it through a static IP and pull the logs.  If you can screenshot or print out the status messages like this one, you can prove it was Comcast's fault and tell them you aren't paying for a service call for them to fix the services you contracted for.

 

Jun 03 2014 19:55:50

3-Critical

R02.0

No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=90:3e:ab:91:fa:fe;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:65:3e:46;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Edited June 6, 2014 by btq96r

[viscero]

One of many reasons I don't rent my modem nor router from Comcast.

[1gewehr]

Get your own modem.  They are not expensive.  If Comcast is willing to allow the public to access your home wifi network, what else are they playing with?

[bersaguy]

Get your own modem.  They are not expensive.  If Comcast is willing to allow the public to access your home wifi network, what else are they playing with?

My guess would be they are watching every move you make in your home through your own TV if you have one of their boxes even when TV is off. I think they are totally in bed with Feds..................jmho

[hkusp40cal]

Another thing missing from this discussion is since TN now has data caps, your neighbor can stream all he wants and not hit is cap.. I guess you can pay the overages.   I do not own a comcast router and use a standard docsis 3 modem hooked to my own router so it won't affect me until they decide I have to use their equipment.

[Murgatroy]

While you are right on most of it, the public SSID will not count against your data. I am pretty sure that was one of the big things they were pusing when they said they were going to start this. You must log in to the public SSID with your Comcast credentials, even though it is public access. The data usage will then be accumulated against the user's account, not the router renter/owner's account.

 

 

 

I understand your frustration, but get the facts right before you have a panic attack.

 

Yes, two users will leach bandwidth, but not data caps.

 

 

 

 

A quick google turned up mulitiple articles related to this:

 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-11/comcast-is-turning-homes-into-public-wi-fi-hotspots

 

http://stopthecap.com/2014/03/27/comcast-hotspot-wi-fi-usage-will-be-tied-back-to-customers-broadband-account/

Edited June 6, 2014 by Murgatroy

[battleop]

A lot of people are getting worked up over nothing.

 

1. You can turn it off.

2. It is not in any way connected to your LAN

3. Guest users do not count against your caps 

4. Guest's bandwidth usage does not take away from your usage.

5. You are not responsible for what anyone does on that connection.  You have to sign into your Xfinity account so they know who is using it.

6. You can disable it.

[battleop]

Another thing missing from this discussion is since TN now has data caps, your neighbor can stream all he wants and not hit is cap.. I guess you can pay the overages.   I do not own a comcast router and use a standard docsis 3 modem hooked to my own router so it won't affect me until they decide I have to use their equipment.

 

It won't count against you at all.  If it counts against anything it would count against their caps.

[Oh Shoot]

As usual, I'm off the bellcurve on this. Always ran my own modem/router, but they gave me a cheaper package deal with the VOIP phone about 9 months ago, (which I don't even use except once in a while to find my cell phone :))

 

So have just used the Comcast modem/router, Arris TG862G, read about all this public wifi addition several months ago, but didn't and still  don't have the xfinitywifi public on it apparently. Don't see it when I surf into it. No "xfinitywifi" connection shows, and until recently none showed on wifi on laptop either.

 

Just noticed that there is one now, but obviously someone else's in the complex here. Only 60% signal strength, and I confirmed by logging in and surfing with my modem disconnected from cable, so it ain't mine.

 

Wondering if my modem didn't get a firmware change pushed to it or something. Online at comcast.net "manage xfinity wifi" always just gives error message of "We're sorry. Something unexpected happened. Please try again later."

 

Not complaining, just curious. But so far not curious enough to call and talk to "Bob" or "Betty" from India or wherever.

 

- OS

 

[vontar]

OK, one I have my own modem and router I know they aren't doing that to me.

Plus I regularly scan my area for odd wifi signals.

 

second, seems like that would be a security risk in it's self for comcast to let anyone connect from your access point.

seems like a good starting place for someone to hack in.

 

3rd, comcast has been reducing the bandwidth they want users to stay in, is a strangers access going to add to your count?

4rd,  Strange looking at bad things or downloading what they shouldn't, is that going to be traced to the modem?

5.  I guess it could also slow down your connection while they are doing what ever bad things they might be up to.

Edited June 6, 2014 by vontar

[vontar]

O BTW, if I wanted to offer public wifi from my house, my WRT DD firmware on my routers can do it and send the payment to my paypal.  I won't let comcast broad cast WIFI from here.

[Oh Shoot]

....

second, seems like that would be a security risk in it's self for comcast to let anyone connect from your access point.

 

Not "anyone" can connect. You must have a Comcast internet account.

 

- OS

[ironsniper1]

we just got a new comcast modem/router the thing is bigger than the one we had and i checked it and i do see a public wifi from comcast but its not coming from us and i do not see an option to turn it off so we must have been lucky

 

EDIT found it, its real small text and not real easy to find, i will disable it now

 

EDIT2 looks like there is nothing to diable, just text telling me how good it is and a place to download a app to find other networks for me to use strange

 

also this could lead to legal issues for the owner of said modem/router, if someone accessed the public network and accessed something illegal, they could trace it back to the owner and think it was him/her/it and make their life a living hell

Edited June 6, 2014 by luke9511

[Fourtyfive]

Got my own modem and router but , really ?

[Sam1]

didn't know they were trying to set up the guest networks like that, but not surprised.  Two things with this:

 

1: when someone connects to the guest network, they now know there is a private network on the same IP range as what was pushed to them.  This reduces the amount of work any hacker needs to do to get into your junk

 

2: someone uses it to download kiddie porn or bomb, drug or other hit list materials and guess who gets a visit?  You do, because this happened on your network, YOU are responsible for the incident.  First thing that happens is that you get a visit by some nice people that will confiscate every computing device that is found or connected to the network when they visit (phones, tablets, computers - don't think they do TV's yet, but they may start now that they have built in browsing functionality).  Then you get a little piece of paper called an evidence ticket while they drive off with all your gear, and a few months later you may or may not ever see it again.

 

#2 is no joke, I've had to work on a child porn case (from the IT side) before and I have never seen so much stuff get confiscated... it basically turned into a "what did that guy touch?"  then the computers were taken from rooms in that building I didn't even know they were installed in.

 

ANYONE who shares out their network or doesn't encrypt it needs to stop, and learn how to encrypt it or have someone do it for them.  Be damned if I shared with my neighbors, much less a completely open hotspot.