FREE Public Wi-Fi (accessed from your private router)

If you lease your router from Comcast/Xfinity, heads up: Your home may now be a public Wi-Fi hotspot unless you've opted out:

http://abc13.com/technology/comcast-turning-your-home-into-a-public-wifi-hotspot/106907/

Yes, a security expert claims it's safe...but, at the same time, it's a bit on the creepy side. In addition, if you live near a park or other gathering place, I'd think too many people on your router at once would cut your speed down.

Yet another reason to buy your own router and modem. I just purchased a Motorola DOCSIS 3.0 (ultra high speed) modem and a decent 300N router - they'll pay for themselves in under two years versus renting and I don't have to worry about my front yard turning into a Starbucks. :-D

 

Seems like the option should be to "opt in" instead of "opting out". Looks like more and more companies are hoping people are not paying enough attention to realize there are choices.

 

They use a separate VLAN. It will never slow you down.

 

No.

I just wouldn't use comcast (and don't).

 

I wish I had an option other than Comcast, but if I want broadband that's who I'll have. DSL of any kind is not available here since the wiring is old and I'm almost five wire miles from the CO. And of course more than one cable company is not available in any given area, so Comcast it is. Of course, they're the third cable company I've had since the local one got swallowed by a regional one that then got swallowed by Comcast, but they're the only game in town.

Luckily, where I live this would never happen. I'll keep an eye on it, but there'd be no joy making mine a public hotspot...I may live within five miles of the city, but it's the middle of nowhere. And our "downtown" has had free public wi-fi for years, provided by the Lions Club. LOL

Edit:
Huh. Just looked, and "manage Xfinity WiFi" does not exist as an option for me. I suspect that's because this isn't here yet, but I find it interesting. The only things I can manage are the DVR I don't have, the voicemail I don't have, and the home security I don't have.

 

nac4ev...that's well beyond my capabilities. LOL But what I get from that is you essentially steal broadband access from a provider by hijacking their signal (I could be wrong, but I don't see anything about paying anyone to use their service there). And it doesn't do anything but internet, and doesn't look like it would work if there are trees. Neat thought, but probably not going to be an option here.

LauraR...yeah, that sounds about right. Comcast can send 847 emails because they want you to buy more services from them even though you've already opted out of their advertising BS, but they can't send one telling you about something like this.

 

I don't have Comcast & I own my modem/router, so I guess I'm one of the lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it LOL) ones.

I would, however, take an issue with this if I did have them. My issue would be this, if you want to provide free internet for people using my router, then you shouldn't charge me for "renting" your router. Because if they don't have to pay to use my router, why should I?

 

Oh, yeah...I'm not close enough to use it. You'd have to understand the area, but "downtown" consists of about a dozen buildings along a single road. I'm up the hill and off a ways; it's one of those areas where your street address gets assigned to the closest municipality with a post office, with a radius of several miles.

As for Comcast, they give you a router for free, but charge $8 per month to rent their modem. You can choose to buy your own, of course, but by using their equipment I get free repair/replacement in case something happens. Also, if the service goes down (and it does on a regular basis, at least a couple of times a month), they won't provide tech support except for the outside lines because you're not using their equipment. It's kinda like how people used to rent their phones from Ma Bell.

 

Comcast nails you for everything. A wi-fi router rental runs $10-$14 per month. If you have their cable, it's even worse: You have no option to buy the equipment. 1 HD DVR for the living room and 1 HD Box for the bedroom would run about $25/month. (I have DIRECTV, so I don't care).

 

Not sure where you get your information, but I'm looking at my Comcast bill. The WiFi router isn't even listed, because it was free. The modem is $8.00. The digital adapter for the TV (since I don't have an HDTV) is free. If I had a DVR, it would be free, except I'd have to pay for digital service at an extra $15/month because it only records digital and I don't have an HDTV (I called and asked a while ago). I have no idea what a second TV anything would cost, as I only own one TV.

 

It looks like you're getting a far better deal than what Comcast offers in Houston. When my old modem died and I called them to ask about renting one, I was told $14 for a combo modem/router. I also briefly considered dropping DIRECTV for Comcast and the cable box fees were what's listed on their website for my area (based on a higher end digital package; not limited basic).

 

Is there any more information on how to do this?

 

Wasn't me who downloaded the entire Game of thrones box set judge, my router is a public wifi hot spot:cool Free like OJ baby.

 

Thanks for the quick reply about the wifi. I'm alookin
Murphy

 

According to the link in the original post, somebody accessing the "secured" Comcast router as a public Wi-Fi guest will show a separate and distinct IP address. This seemingly would prevent the FBI from kicking in your door if a user of the open Wi-Fi downloaded illegal files.

This being said, Rikky has a point. I fail to see how Comcast could prevent someone from logging off their own router, accessing the "public" connection from a neighbor and going nuts downloading whatever they want.

Another important point is a guest user has to log on using their Comcast email name and password. My guess is "friends" will be "borrowing" the names/passwords of legitimate Comcast customers and/or asking exisiting customers to create an additional e-mail account (log-in) for them.