Comcast gets sued for turning users Modem into Public WIFI Hotspots

[AnotherITguy]

Comcast is being sued by two of its customers for splitting one of the DOCSIS 3.0 channels to create the "Free xfinity wifi" hotspots on each of their customer's modem.

 

 

 

Link:

http://blog.chron.com/techblog/2014/12/lawsuit-filed-over-comcasts-residential-public-wi-fi-hotspots/#24139101=0

[+Red King Subscriber²]

Maybe I'll stick with my current ISP afterall...

[Mr. Gibs]

Comcast is being sued by two of its customers for splitting one of the DOCSIS 3.0 channels to create the "Free xfinity wifi" hotspots on each of their customer's modem.

 

 

 

Link:

http://blog.chron.com/techblog/2014/12/lawsuit-filed-over-comcasts-residential-public-wi-fi-hotspots/#24139101=0

Oh no! Not one of the DOSCIS channels! God help us all...oh wait let's take a look at that shall we?

Each DOSCIS channel that your modem bonds is capable of ~40mbps (theoretically I think its like 48mbps). Comcasts oldest gateways are 8x4 so they're capable of 320mbps down and 160mbps up. The newer ones are 16x4 and the newest one is 24x8.

Now comcast, in most places, doesn't offer those speeds at all but your modem has still bonded with those many channels. Furthermore the hotspot is limited to 15mbps and a max of 5 users. At the end of the day xfinity hotspot isn't going to slow your internet down unless there are other factors at play ie your cable line is bad and causing a lot of interference, your gateway is out of spec, your neighbor installed an active return amp which fed a lot of noise into the neighborhood line, or your node is completely overloaded.

[Ian S.]

Oh no! Not one of the DOSCIS channels! God help us all...oh wait let's take a look at that shall we?

Each DOSCIS channel that your modem bonds is capable of ~40mbps (theoretically I think its like 48mbps). Comcasts oldest gateways are 8x4 so they're capable of 320mbps down and 160mbps up. The newer ones are 16x4 and the newest one is 24x8.

Now comcast, in most places, doesn't offer those speeds at all but your modem has still bonded with those many channels. Furthermore the hotspot is limited to 15mbps and a max of 5 users. At the end of the day xfinity hotspot isn't going to slow your internet down unless there are other factors at play ie your cable line is bad and causing a lot of interference, your gateway is out of spec, your neighbor installed an active return amp which fed a lot of noise into the neighborhood line, or your node is completely overloaded.

It still uses router resources. If their using my infrastructure, I should get paid.

[Hum]

Comcast deserves a few lawsuits.

 

Engineers at Speedify, a technology company that increases Internet connection speeds, ran tests on Comcast?s new routers and determined that ?Comcast will be pushing tens of millions of dollars per month of the electricity bills needed to run their nationwide public wi-fi network onto consumers,? the complaint states.

 

[spacer]

Can users flash their routers and turn off these hot spots?

[Argi]

It still uses router resources. If their using my infrastructure, I should get paid.

 

Technically you're renting the modem from Comcast (or least that's how it shows up on my bill).

[Dot Matrix]

Maybe I'll stick with my current ISP afterall...

Until Comcast buys them.

[Shadrack]

Technically you're renting the modem from Comcast (or least that's how it shows up on my bill).

 

You can buy your own modem. I have my own modem for Comcast. I'm up for re-examining Comcast as my ISP next month (as that is when they will jack-up my rate back to ridiculous town until I call them threatening to cancel..so tired of that song and dance). If I stick with Comcast, I'll be sure to stick with Modems that don't have WiFi capabilities to avoid this.

[Mr. Gibs]

It still uses router resources. If their using my infrastructure, I should get paid.

But it allows you to use their internet anywhere you are in the US, essentially for free (well you pay for your own Internet). You don't own the infrastructure, the gateway belongs to comcast, the cable line belongs to comcast. If you don't like it, don't lease a modem from them. Go buy your own for way less than $100 and save a ton of money over the lifetime of your subscription. $10 a month or $80 upfront, you choose. Most of the retail cable modems are 4x4 channels which will give you about 160mbps up/down, so as long as you aren't subscribed to higher speeds those devices will be just fine.

 

Engineers at Speedify, a technology company that increases Internet connection speeds, ran tests on Comcast?s new routers and determined that ?Comcast will be pushing tens of millions of dollars per month of the electricity bills needed to run their nationwide public wi-fi network onto consumers,? the complaint states.

Yeah thats a load of ######. It only sounds big when you combine every single household in the US. If you look at each modem individually it's like a dollar a year of extra electric usage. If you don't like it just disable it from your account management page.

Seriously there are a lot of things to hate comcast about, but this is a GOOD idea. If you subscribe to comcast you now have pretty much free wifi in the vast majority of locations in the US. They just implemented it terribly by not telling their subscribers and enabling it by default, which they shouldn't have done.

[Xilo]

But it allows you to use their internet anywhere you are in the US, essentially for free (well you pay for your own Internet). You don't own the infrastructure, the gateway belongs to comcast, the cable line belongs to comcast. If you don't like it, don't lease a modem from them. Go buy your own for way less than $100 and save a ton of money over the lifetime of your subscription. $10 a month or $80 upfront, you choose. Most of the retail cable modems are 4x4 channels which will give you about 160mbps up/down, so as long as you aren't subscribed to higher speeds those devices will be just fine.

 

Yeah thats a load of ######. It only sounds big when you combine every single household in the US. If you look at each modem individually it's like a dollar a year of extra electric usage. If you don't like it just disable it from your account management page.

Seriously there are a lot of things to hate comcast about, but this is a GOOD idea. If you subscribe to comcast you now have pretty much free wifi in the vast majority of locations in the US. They just implemented it terribly by not telling their subscribers and enabling it by default, which they shouldn't have done.

How are they going to manage when someone gets infractions or sued for copyright violations by people using the hotspot?

[remixedcat]

Also they have no monitoring accessible by the user or even any controls over who connects to the comcast hotspot. someone can download illegal stuff.

 

Concast is also doing this just to make it so cities have a harder time providing municipal wifi becuase "free enterprise" BS. comcast allready prevents cities from providing their own internet access to people. they try to block this kinda stuff all the time..

 

"oh we're capable of providing 'citywide wifi' see people you don't need the city to do it" and people get brainwashed.

[Torolol]

oh socialists modems!

always ready to receives stealthy command from supreme comrade.

[Mr. Gibs]

How are they going to manage when someone gets infractions or sued for copyright violations by people using the hotspot?

Also they have no monitoring accessible by the user or even any controls over who connects to the comcast hotspot. someone can download illegal stuff.

Concast is also doing this just to make it so cities have a harder time providing municipal wifi becuase "free enterprise" BS. comcast allready prevents cities from providing their own internet access to people. they try to block this kinda stuff all the time..

"oh we're capable of providing 'citywide wifi' see people you don't need the city to do it" and people get brainwashed.

Um they have to login to the xfinity hotspot with their own comcast account. All data that they download / view etc goes through THEIR account, not yours. So if someone downloads a movie through your hotspot then they'll be the one getting flagged, not you.

Comcast lobbies the cities to do it but its YOUR city that passes the law that blocks it from happening because the politicians that you voted in care more about money from lobbyists than the people they serve. Comcast is a public company with shareholders, they're going to do what they can to make money. It's your own damn city government's fault for sucking up to the corporations, after all you voted them in didn't you?

[Xerino]

Can users flash their routers and turn off these hot spots?

 

You can go into your account settings "comcast.com" and opt out of being a wifi hotspot, your gateway will then rseet and the public wifi will no longer be there.

[remixedcat]

Everyone stop apologizing for concast they want you to be brainwashed into accepting crappy tiered internet with crap speeds and crap customer service. if you continue to do this the US internet situation will not improve!

[AnotherITguy]

Actually in some of the models that Comcast leases out if you rename the main WIFI network the "FREE XFINITY INTERNET" hotspot goes away completely.

[Xilo]

Everyone stop apologizing for concast they want you to be brainwashed into accepting crappy tiered internet with crap speeds and crap customer service. if you continue to do this the US internet situation will not improve!

Seriously. Comcast is one of the companies that completely ###### on customers and opposed net neutrality. They want to limit speeds and download limits and charge as much as possible.

[Mr. Gibs]

Everyone stop apologizing for concast they want you to be brainwashed into accepting crappy tiered internet with crap speeds and crap customer service. if you continue to do this the US internet situation will not improve!

Who exactly is apologizing here for comcast? Oh wait nobody.

How about you stop blaming ONE ISP because here's a hint, all of the big ISPs are like that and all of them do EXACTLY the same thing. Start putting blame on the organizations that ALLOWED Comcast (and every other ISP) to get to where they are today, aka the FCC and our government. Comcast is doing what you'd expect them to do, make money. It's the FCC and the governments job to make sure that comcast plays by the rules. But instead what happens? Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, TWC etc etc all pay billions to the government and get their own way. I mean look at it, everyone is against the Comcast and TWC merger and has the FCC done anything to stop it? Nope.

You could get rid of Comcast and you'll just have another company take its place and do exactly the same thing. So start placing the blame where it should exist.

[Xerino]

Everyone stop apologizing for concast they want you to be brainwashed into accepting crappy tiered internet with crap speeds and crap customer service. if you continue to do this the US internet situation will not improve!

 

Still better than AT&T U-erse though

[+Raze Subscriber²]

Who exactly is apologizing here for comcast? Oh wait nobody.

How about you stop blaming ONE ISP because here's a hint, all of the big ISPs are like that and all of them do EXACTLY the same thing. Start putting blame on the organizations that ALLOWED Comcast to get to where they are today, aka the FCC and our government. Comcast is doing what you'd expect them to do, make money. It's the FCC and the governments job to make sure that comcast plays by the rules. But instead what happens? Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, TWC etc etc all pay billions to the government and get their own way. I mean look at it, everyone is against the Comcast and TWC merger and has the FCC done anything to stop it? Nope.

You could get rid of Comcast and you'll just have another company take its place and do exactly the same thing. So start placing the blame where it should exist.

 

Maybe because the FCC has set a tentative February deadline for completing the review.  And maybe you're not apologizing for Comcast but you sure are coming across as an apologist.  I think many people are very aware that Comcast is a for profit business enterprise, the fact is they (Comcast) have been involved some controversial behavior and people have every right to comment about it. 

[Mr. Gibs]

Maybe because the FCC has set a tentative February deadline for completing the review.  And maybe you're not apologizing for Comcast but you sure are coming across as an apologist.  I think many people are very aware that Comcast is a for profit business enterprise, the fact is they (Comcast) have been involved some controversial behavior and people have every right to comment about it.

Yup with quotes like:

 

Seriously there are a lot of things to hate comcast about, but this is a GOOD idea. If you subscribe to comcast you now have pretty much free wifi in the vast majority of locations in the US. They just implemented it terribly by not telling their subscribers and enabling it by default, which they shouldn't have done.

Clearly I love comcast...

And as for the TWC merger if you don't think the FCC will approve it you're being delusional. They have done nothing to stop any of the ISPs becoming quasi monopolies (and pretty much straight out monopolies in many many areas) in the past. They haven't given a ######, and now that the head of the FCC used to work for Comcast and AT&T you think that it won't pass? Come on now.

My entire point is stop blaming a SINGLE ISP (it could be Comcast, it could be AT&T, it could be Verizon, it could be TWC they're all ######). They're doing what the government is allowing them to do. Getting rid of any of those ISPs won't do anything to make things better. Comcast could completely die out tomorrow and whoever takes their place will do EXACTLY the same thing because they legally can do it and make billions from doing it.

Cable companies aren't even the only example of the ######. Look at cell phone companies, look at media companies (6 companies control 90% of all media in the US, 6 companies). None of those companies should have been allowed to do what they've done, and yet they have.

Changing the laws and getting rid of lobbying would do far far far more.

[+Raze Subscriber²]

Yup with quotes like:

 

Clearly I love comcast...

And as for the TWC merger if you don't think the FCC will approve it you're being delusional. They have done nothing to stop any of the ISPs becoming quasi monopolies (and pretty much straight out monopolies in many many areas) in the past. They haven't given a ######, and now that the head of the FCC used to work for Comcast and AT&T you think that it won't pass? Come on now.

My entire point is stop blaming a SINGLE ISP (it could be Comcast, it could be AT&T, it could be Verizon, it could be TWC they're all ######). They're doing what the government is allowing them to do. Getting rid of any of those ISPs won't do anything to make things better. Comcast could completely die out tomorrow and whoever takes their place will do EXACTLY the same thing because they legally can do it and make billions from doing it.

Changing the laws and getting rid of lobbying would do far far far more.

 

Who said you loved Comcast?  Oh wait nobody.

 

Nobody is blaming just Comcast, the article was about them so people are making comments.  I can't predict what the FCC will or will not do and neither can you (and if you think you can it's you being the delusional one).  But there is really no reason to get all bent out of shape because other people have their own opinions.

[Dummy1234]

Put something in my own place to provide sevice to other, I think it should get paid.

Just the same as put some mobile tower on private property and get paid.

[Mr. Gibs]

Who said you loved Comcast?  Oh wait nobody.

 

Nobody is blaming just Comcast, the article was about them so people are making comments.  I can't predict what the FCC will or will not do and neither can you (and if you think you can it's you being the delusional one).  But there is really no reason to get all bent out of shape because other people have their own opinions.

Yeah and their opinions is what got us into the mess into the first place. People seem perfectly content with blaming Comcast, and sure they're a terrible company but they're doing exactly what capitalism makes them do. They exist to make money, so they make money. We elect people to run the country and care about the citizens, but instead they care more about lobbying money. Which is exactly why you can sit there and blame comcast all you want, but them disappearing isn't going to make things better. The other ISPs would just come in and do exactly the same thing but the root of the problem has always been the FCC.

I mean we just had two senators (one democrat and one republican) in Pennsylvania urging the FCC to quickly approve the Comcast/TWC merger. 52 mayors have come out in support of the deal too, several other agencies have as well all claiming that the deal will be very beneficial for the citizens of this country. And shockingly guess what...Comcast and TWC have "donated" money to all of them. The FCC has done nothing to stop Comcast in the past, so I have 0 faith that they will do anything in the future to stop Comcast either.