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posted by n1 on Friday June 13 2014, @08:16AM   Printer-friendly
from the investing-in-infrastructure dept.

John Biggs writes at TechCrunch that Comcast is quietly turning on public hotspots in its customers' routers, essentially turning private homes into public hotspots. Comcast customers get free Wi-Fi wherever there is a Comcast box and the company gets to build out a private network to compete with telecoms. Fifty thousand users with Arris Touchstone Telephony Wireless Gateway Modems essentially basic modems that cable providers drop off at your home have already been turned into public hotspots in Houston, and there are plans to enable 150,000 more.

But concerns are being raised about this service. In addition to using customers' electricity for their service, some say that in areas that have lots of apartment buildings and multi-tenant dwellings within close proximity of one another, performance will slow down. Those routers are transmitting on the same channels for their 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals, leading to RF competition. "Comcast's FAQ about Xfinity's hotspots doesn't go into any details about channels and bands," writes Samara Lynn, "but the company should be clear about how adding these hotspot networks affects the performance of existing WLANs-especially in business use."

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by TheCastro on Friday June 13 2014, @11:28AM

    by TheCastro (4449) on Friday June 13 2014, @11:28AM (#54903)

    but not easily. You have to call comcast and talk to someone in their IT department or tech support (not all of them know how to though) and they can disable the wi-fi for other comcast customers, I don't think it's truely "public wi-fi". I had all the comcast modem/routers wi-fi turned off because I use my own router and there's wasn't compatiable with the ones I was using to extend my network through out my house and around it. I live in the country so I don't really have a concern about others using my internet, but I was concerned about having competing routers in my house.

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  • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Friday June 13 2014, @01:49PM

    by TheGratefulNet (659) on Friday June 13 2014, @01:49PM (#54942)

    are people missing the obvious, here?

    I signed up for comcast a year ago when I moved. I went to my computer store, bought one of the 2 'modems' that are recommended and I specifically made sure there was no wifi on it. that adds cost and no way I'd tie radio+router together on the comcast side of the lan. on MY side, I can do what I want and I run my own AP. they do not have access to it and its just another lan mac address station that they see, just like any other end node.

    you can return the combo box you rented from them and just buy your own docsis modem and get one that is just a router, not a router+radio.

    its just that simple. sure, you should not have to do this but then again, why would anyone get a combo box from the vendor when docsis (standards) was there to ALLOW you to buy your own gear and not have to go to the vendor like the olden days.

    even dsl is standard so you can buy any dsl modem and use it on your phone/dsl line. its stupid to rent from the ISP. that is a 10+ yr old business model that no one should be forced into anymore.

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by GlennC on Friday June 13 2014, @02:07PM

      by GlennC (3656) on Friday June 13 2014, @02:07PM (#54956)

      You and I, along with many of the Soylentils and Slashbots, know to do this.

      Jane Doe and Joe Sixpack, however, don't. Comcast is taking advantage of this.

      As for me as a Time-Warner customer, I've put their equipment into bridge mode and put my own router and Wi-Fi in.

      --
      Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
      • (Score: 1) by jmc23 on Friday June 13 2014, @04:59PM

        by jmc23 (4142) on Friday June 13 2014, @04:59PM (#55048)

        You're missing the fact that Jane Doe and Joe Sixpack don't have irrational paranoid fears stuck up their ass and really don't give a shit.

        • (Score: 2) by LookIntoTheFuture on Friday June 13 2014, @07:20PM

          by LookIntoTheFuture (462) on Friday June 13 2014, @07:20PM (#55098)
          "You're missing the fact that Jane Doe and Joe Sixpack don't have irrational paranoid fears stuck up their ass and really don't give a shit."

          This is why things like identity theft are rampant. Good for them though. Fuck giving a shit about security.
          • (Score: 1) by jmc23 on Friday June 13 2014, @09:23PM

            by jmc23 (4142) on Friday June 13 2014, @09:23PM (#55125)

            The opposite is not always true.