Solve : Comcast turning homes into wifi hotspots?

1.	Solve : Comcast turning homes into wifi hotspots?
Answer» I got a automated phone call today from Comcast out of Philadelphia suggesting that I upgrade my cable modem to ensure that I receive all the many benefits their SERVICE has to offer. First off I own my modem and dont lease it and save money every month not paying the lease fees. Additionally, I read back in June about the sneaky plan Comcast has to make every Comcast customers home or business to be a Comcast WIFI Hotspot and they are not exactly notifying people that these new wireless modem/routers that they are giving people have this feature enabled. To me its the same as if a cell phone provider placed a cell phone repeater in every home to extend their service coverage. I told my wife to ignore the phone calls and only when the modem we have fails to work someday, then we will be forced to upgrade then, but until then lets see how long we can go without being forced into an upgrade that is unnecessary. More info can be read here about this wifi project that likely many are unaware of. http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast-wifi-hotspot/Good point! Look at this: Quote ... And don't expect every passing stranger to get access. The Wi-Fi signal is no stronger than it is now, so anyone camped in your front yard will have a difficult time tapping into the public network. This system was meant for guests at home, not on the street. As for strangers tapping your router for illegal activity: Comcast said you'll be guilt-free if the FBI comes knocking. Anyone hooking up to the "Xfinity Wi-Fi" public network must sign in with their own traceable, Comcast customer credentials. ... I really doubt the accuracy of the above statements. More likely Comcast will use this feature to their own advantage in some way. It could give e them an edge over other companies who WANT to get into a market area. Sometimes a wireless signal can travel well beyond the typical 100 meter (about 300 feet) range expected. Some users can be happy with a 5mps service, which is about what you get with DSL in many places. Whenever the data rate is reduced, the range goes up inversely Expect this to lead to some exiting changes in home entertainment. Quote Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas promised "there's more than enough capacity" in the cables connecting to people's homes to make this work. And this way, they have more reasons to throttle people!BT have been doing this in the UK for a while now and I haven't heard of any ill-effects, the public hotspots are totally separate from your home network and are heavily throttled so that they will never use traffic that you require on the main connection. Right now using my laptop in my bedroom, I can see TWO of these "BTWiFi-with-FON" networks from my neighbours. The way it works here is pretty good, if you chose to operate a hotspot, you then get access to all other hotspots on the system as well as PROFESSIONALLY operated "BT Openzone" hotspots in public places such as coffee shops. Quote from: Geek-9pm on November 19, 2014, 05:54:42 PM Sometimes a wireless signal can travel well beyond the typical 100 meter (about 300 feet) range expected. Some users can be happy with a 5mps service, which is about what you get with DSL in many places. Whenever the data rate is reduced, the range goes up inversely That's not how it works - Speed reduces with distance from the access point, it is not however the case that Comcast will somehow make their wireless signal stronger and that this will somehow make the speed slower. Even if the hardware was replaced with new equipment with a higher transmit power, all this would do would allow the exact same speed to the user however the speed would reduce at a slower rate as they move further from the access point. Quote from: Geek-9pm on November 19, 2014, 05:54:42 PM I really doubt the accuracy of the above statements. I don't believe the bit where they say it's targeted at guests, it is definitely meant for the public - If you have guests you either give them your WiFi key or have a separate guest network also with a key. However they will almost definitely route all traffic to the hotspot separately to your own traffic so that it can be traced for illegal activity. BT have operated like this for years and I have not yet heard of a case where a customer has had any legal issues due to operating a hotspot.Quote from: BC_Programmer on November 19, 2014, 06:26:16 PM And this way, they have more reasons to throttle people! Right! For those who never heard of Bandwidth Throttling ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_throttling Quote In 2007, Free Press, Public Knowledge, and the Federal Communications Commission filed a complaint against Comcast’s Internet service. Several subscribers claimed that the company was interfering with their use of peer-to-peer networking applications. The Commission stated that it had jurisdiction over Comcast’s network management practices and that it could resolve the dispute through negotiation rather than through rulemaking. After seven years?

Answer»

I got a automated phone call today from Comcast out of Philadelphia suggesting that I upgrade my cable modem to ensure that I receive all the many benefits their SERVICE has to offer.

First off I own my modem and dont lease it and save money every month not paying the lease fees.

Additionally, I read back in June about the sneaky plan Comcast has to make every Comcast customers home or business to be a Comcast WIFI Hotspot and they are not exactly notifying people that these new wireless modem/routers that they are giving people have this feature enabled.

To me its the same as if a cell phone provider placed a cell phone repeater in every home to extend their service coverage.

I told my wife to ignore the phone calls and only when the modem we have fails to work someday, then we will be forced to upgrade then, but until then lets see how long we can go without being forced into an upgrade that is unnecessary.

More info can be read here about this wifi project that likely many are unaware of.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast-wifi-hotspot/Good point!
Look at this:

Quote

...
And don't expect every passing stranger to get access. The Wi-Fi signal is no stronger than it is now, so anyone camped in your front yard will have a difficult time tapping into the public network. This system was meant for guests at home, not on the street.
As for strangers tapping your router for illegal activity: Comcast said you'll be guilt-free if the FBI comes knocking. Anyone hooking up to the "Xfinity Wi-Fi" public network must sign in with their own traceable, Comcast customer credentials. ...

I really doubt the accuracy of the above statements. More likely Comcast will use this feature to their own advantage in some way. It could give e them an edge over other companies who WANT to get into a market area.
Sometimes a wireless signal can travel well beyond the typical 100 meter (about 300 feet) range expected. Some users can be happy with a 5mps service, which is about what you get with DSL in many places. Whenever the data rate is reduced, the range goes up inversely
Expect this to lead to some exiting changes in home entertainment.

Quote

Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas promised "there's more than enough capacity" in the cables connecting to people's homes to make this work.

And this way, they have more reasons to throttle people!BT have been doing this in the UK for a while now and I haven't heard of any ill-effects, the public hotspots are totally separate from your home network and are heavily throttled so that they will never use traffic that you require on the main connection. Right now using my laptop in my bedroom, I can see TWO of these "BTWiFi-with-FON" networks from my neighbours.

The way it works here is pretty good, if you chose to operate a hotspot, you then get access to all other hotspots on the system as well as PROFESSIONALLY operated "BT Openzone" hotspots in public places such as coffee shops.

Quote from: Geek-9pm on November 19, 2014, 05:54:42 PM

Sometimes a wireless signal can travel well beyond the typical 100 meter (about 300 feet) range expected. Some users can be happy with a 5mps service, which is about what you get with DSL in many places. Whenever the data rate is reduced, the range goes up inversely

That's not how it works - Speed reduces with distance from the access point, it is not however the case that Comcast will somehow make their wireless signal stronger and that this will somehow make the speed slower. Even if the hardware was replaced with new equipment with a higher transmit power, all this would do would allow the exact same speed to the user however the speed would reduce at a slower rate as they move further from the access point.

Quote from: Geek-9pm on November 19, 2014, 05:54:42 PM

I really doubt the accuracy of the above statements.

I don't believe the bit where they say it's targeted at guests, it is definitely meant for the public - If you have guests you either give them your WiFi key or have a separate guest network also with a key. However they will almost definitely route all traffic to the hotspot separately to your own traffic so that it can be traced for illegal activity. BT have operated like this for years and I have not yet heard of a case where a customer has had any legal issues due to operating a hotspot.Quote from: BC_Programmer on November 19, 2014, 06:26:16 PM

And this way, they have more reasons to throttle people!

Right!
For those who never heard of Bandwidth Throttling ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_throttling
Quote

In 2007, Free Press, Public Knowledge, and the Federal Communications Commission filed a complaint against Comcast’s Internet service. Several subscribers claimed that the company was interfering with their use of peer-to-peer networking applications. The Commission stated that it had jurisdiction over Comcast’s network management practices and that it could resolve the dispute through negotiation rather than through rulemaking.

After seven years?

Solve : Comcast turning homes into wifi hotspots?

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