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There is a reason they are doing this. After signing up for Xfinity I noticed that the modem we were leasing was broadcasting a public access point with no way

There is a reason they are doing this. After signing up for Xfinity I noticed that the modem we were leasing was broadcasting a public access point with no way to disable it. I purchased my own modem immediately. Then some time later they rolled out their mobile services, which you guessed it, rely’s on those open access points and Sprint as a fall-back. So now customers are paying monthly to host Xfinity mobile services. I will admit that it is clever, but this should be transparent and customers should not be subsidizing the cost.

lucio 9y ago
jlivingood seems to be a Comcast employee, and he/she is saying that the leased one is no longer compatible.
skinnymuch 9y ago
Xfinity/Comcast deal is with Verizon, not Sprint. The deal to allow Xfinity Mobile to use Verizon happened years ago. Doesn't change much or any reasoning, but VeriOn is a lot better in terms of service area [and strength] vs Sprint.
- StudentStuff 9y ago
  Verizon has poor service in many places, eg Hawaii or when roaming up near the Canadian border. They still haven't figured out how to support international roaming reliably, half my family was w/o service for our few hours in Canada. Service in SoCal seems to be one of their last strongholds, but even then voice calls sound like a robot.
  - selectodude 9y ago
    Their voice quality on VoLTE is perfect.
  - phil21 9y ago
    Verizon is far and away the market leader in international roaming and it isn't even remotely close. At least in my experience. Source: Tried to get away from VZW for a decade now - international roaming always being the ultimate decider. Curious who you've found to be better. Verizon has always been that shit-tier company ran by borderline criminals which happens to have the far superior network and hard product.
    - davrosthedalek 9y ago
      Have you tried t-mobile? They seem to have excellent coverage everywhere I go, which is mainly Europe. /And/ free (but slow) data.
      - GFischer 9y ago
        T-Mobile works very well where I live (Uruguay), we have some company-issued US-based cell phones and they have very good connectivity.
    - skate22 9y ago
      With the highest priced international sprint service i had terrible connection in Paris several months ago. I would go 30 mins to an hour with no connection frequently. At home (Boston Ma) sprint is good enough to online game and stream at the same time. I lost my comcast connection for several hours recently, and tethering to my phone resulted in less latency... Edit: This is on Sprint's unlimited plan (around $50 a month for 1 line, $25 per line for 4 lines)
      - tapoxi 9y ago
        If RCN is available near you (I'm in Watertown), I highly recommend them. I was used to very frequent Comcast outages but haven't had a single issue with RCN after subscribing for almost two years.
    - StudentStuff 9y ago
      Took multiple support calls and 2 hours of our time to get their phones to roam in Canada, whereas the rest of us were up and running when we landed. Nevermind, once we got their phones working, outbound calls still didn't work on iPhone or Android, it'd ring outbound and the other person would get the call, but the call would collapse on answering it.
      - skinnymuch 9y ago
        Comcast using Verizon doesn't have that problem in Canada at least the two times so far I've been there with their phones. Worked instantly and the prices are rock solid. Hate still having Att as my main provider when going anywhere outside America.
sethrin 9y ago
As far as I am aware, it is possible to disable the public 'xfinitywifi' hotspot on all Comcast modems which provide this feature (I had a stint as a TSR relatively recently). Further, I believe this is a user-configurable setting on all CC modems. I personally have this feature disabled on my Arris 1682G, and this should be their most common model in most regions.
- notyourday 9y ago
  Tinfoil makes a great Faraday cage
- marklyon 9y ago
  I was told I could not disable their hotspot, nor could I set my own DNS servers. Since I kept having connectivity issues due to Comcast’s DNS being flaky, and not wanting to manually configire every client, I bought my own modem and wireless setup.
  - Pyxl101 9y ago
    You can disable the hotspot and use your own DNS servers if you want. The ability to disable the hotspot is documented in the public FAQ (Google: "XFINITY WiFi Home Hotspots FAQs"). I've used my own DNS servers before. I have no problem making DNS queries to 8.8.8.8, and in fact I switched my PC to use it one time when Comcast DNS was down.
    - JadeNB 9y ago
      What's the point of giving Google instructions instead of just linking https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/disable-xfinity-wifi-home-hotspot https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/disable-xfinity-wif... ?
  - sethrin 9y ago
    As the other person has said, they have a FAQ for disabling the hotspot. I additionally set my modem to bridge mode in order to use a more capable router. It does look like Comcast mandates the use of their DNS whenever possible, and I'm sure that I bothered to configure an alternative because of reliability issues as well.
WhitneyLand 9y ago
So if they let themselves into your house while you were away and left a note in your dining table, you’d say there’s a reason they’re doing this? There is not a reason to access and modify your private data. This is not some kind of out of band multiplexed signal, they are reaching into your applications and changing their behavior. There are other ways to communicate with people you have a billing relationship with already in place.
- throwahey 9y ago
  My response to the parent comment was why they are forcing their modems on people, not regarding the JS injection, which I was equally horrified to see. There is a reason I keep JS disabled by default.
phil21 9y ago
> customers should not be subsidizing the cost. Can you please explain to me how you think this is a thing? Are you really that concerned about the extra watt or so of power usage a virtual SSID uses? Or are you operating under the misconception that this somehow impacts your bandwidth allocation? It's by far the most innovative and awesome thing Comcast has ever done. And they get ultra-hate from people who should absolutely know better. The single and sole complaint you could have here is spectrum utilization.
- justrobert 9y ago
  Except comcast has datacaps for total transfer per month. I don't use comcast so I do not personally know if they charge for excessive data usage, but I know cox does. Besides the point of potential cost, why should a user who is paying for the service subsidize comcast. They are not getting a discount for offering the wifi to customers.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    Do you know the public access point data is being attributed to customers' usage totals? Or does that just seem like the sort of thing they'd do?
    - Corrado 9y ago
      Well, if it weren't I would connect everything I own to that guest access point and bypass my cap completely. Or perhaps the speed of that connection is very slow. But then it wouldn't be much use to other customers either.
      - jachee 9y ago
        When you connect to an 'xfinitywifi' SSID, you have to authenticate with your comcast credentials. The usage is then tracked as yours, not whose-ever hotspot you hit.
        9y ago
yndoendo 9y ago
This is where tin foil is a great tool. Comcast sees the wifi activated but no one can connect though the layers of metal.
- walrus01 9y ago
  this is where you should buy your own DOCSIS3.0 modem which is a dumb L2 bridge with no NAT, routing or wifi functionality: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Download-Certified-Spectrum-TC-7610/dp/B010Q29YF8 https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Download-Certified-Spectrum-T...
smsm42 9y ago
I would actually be fine with it - I'm pretty sure I am not using full bandwidth supported by my cable and I'd be fine for Comcast to use it for whatever they like, in exchange for free Wifi and stuff. But when they also want to charge me a fee for that, that's where it doesn't work for me. If you want to host your infrastructure, which you sell, in my home - why I should be the one paying for it?

lucio 9y ago

jlivingood seems to be a Comcast employee, and he/she is saying that the leased one is no longer compatible.

skinnymuch 9y ago

Xfinity/Comcast deal is with Verizon, not Sprint. The deal to allow Xfinity Mobile to use Verizon happened years ago. Doesn't change much or any reasoning, but VeriOn is a lot better in terms of service area [and strength] vs Sprint.

StudentStuff 9y ago
Verizon has poor service in many places, eg Hawaii or when roaming up near the Canadian border. They still haven't figured out how to support international roaming reliably, half my family was w/o service for our few hours in Canada. Service in SoCal seems to be one of their last strongholds, but even then voice calls sound like a robot.
- selectodude 9y ago
  Their voice quality on VoLTE is perfect.
- phil21 9y ago
  Verizon is far and away the market leader in international roaming and it isn't even remotely close. At least in my experience. Source: Tried to get away from VZW for a decade now - international roaming always being the ultimate decider. Curious who you've found to be better. Verizon has always been that shit-tier company ran by borderline criminals which happens to have the far superior network and hard product.
  - davrosthedalek 9y ago
    Have you tried t-mobile? They seem to have excellent coverage everywhere I go, which is mainly Europe. /And/ free (but slow) data.
    - GFischer 9y ago
      T-Mobile works very well where I live (Uruguay), we have some company-issued US-based cell phones and they have very good connectivity.
  - skate22 9y ago
    With the highest priced international sprint service i had terrible connection in Paris several months ago. I would go 30 mins to an hour with no connection frequently. At home (Boston Ma) sprint is good enough to online game and stream at the same time. I lost my comcast connection for several hours recently, and tethering to my phone resulted in less latency... Edit: This is on Sprint's unlimited plan (around $50 a month for 1 line, $25 per line for 4 lines)
    - tapoxi 9y ago
      If RCN is available near you (I'm in Watertown), I highly recommend them. I was used to very frequent Comcast outages but haven't had a single issue with RCN after subscribing for almost two years.
  - StudentStuff 9y ago
    Took multiple support calls and 2 hours of our time to get their phones to roam in Canada, whereas the rest of us were up and running when we landed. Nevermind, once we got their phones working, outbound calls still didn't work on iPhone or Android, it'd ring outbound and the other person would get the call, but the call would collapse on answering it.
    - skinnymuch 9y ago
      Comcast using Verizon doesn't have that problem in Canada at least the two times so far I've been there with their phones. Worked instantly and the prices are rock solid. Hate still having Att as my main provider when going anywhere outside America.

sethrin 9y ago

As far as I am aware, it is possible to disable the public 'xfinitywifi' hotspot on all Comcast modems which provide this feature (I had a stint as a TSR relatively recently). Further, I believe this is a user-configurable setting on all CC modems. I personally have this feature disabled on my Arris 1682G, and this should be their most common model in most regions.

notyourday 9y ago
Tinfoil makes a great Faraday cage
marklyon 9y ago
I was told I could not disable their hotspot, nor could I set my own DNS servers. Since I kept having connectivity issues due to Comcast’s DNS being flaky, and not wanting to manually configire every client, I bought my own modem and wireless setup.
- Pyxl101 9y ago
  You can disable the hotspot and use your own DNS servers if you want. The ability to disable the hotspot is documented in the public FAQ (Google: "XFINITY WiFi Home Hotspots FAQs"). I've used my own DNS servers before. I have no problem making DNS queries to 8.8.8.8, and in fact I switched my PC to use it one time when Comcast DNS was down.
  - JadeNB 9y ago
    What's the point of giving Google instructions instead of just linking https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/disable-xfinity-wifi-home-hotspot https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/disable-xfinity-wif... ?
- sethrin 9y ago
  As the other person has said, they have a FAQ for disabling the hotspot. I additionally set my modem to bridge mode in order to use a more capable router. It does look like Comcast mandates the use of their DNS whenever possible, and I'm sure that I bothered to configure an alternative because of reliability issues as well.

WhitneyLand 9y ago

So if they let themselves into your house while you were away and left a note in your dining table, you’d say there’s a reason they’re doing this? There is not a reason to access and modify your private data. This is not some kind of out of band multiplexed signal, they are reaching into your applications and changing their behavior. There are other ways to communicate with people you have a billing relationship with already in place.

throwahey 9y ago
My response to the parent comment was why they are forcing their modems on people, not regarding the JS injection, which I was equally horrified to see. There is a reason I keep JS disabled by default.

phil21 9y ago

> customers should not be subsidizing the cost. Can you please explain to me how you think this is a thing? Are you really that concerned about the extra watt or so of power usage a virtual SSID uses? Or are you operating under the misconception that this somehow impacts your bandwidth allocation? It's by far the most innovative and awesome thing Comcast has ever done. And they get ultra-hate from people who should absolutely know better. The single and sole complaint you could have here is spectrum utilization.

justrobert 9y ago
Except comcast has datacaps for total transfer per month. I don't use comcast so I do not personally know if they charge for excessive data usage, but I know cox does. Besides the point of potential cost, why should a user who is paying for the service subsidize comcast. They are not getting a discount for offering the wifi to customers.
- anigbrowl 9y ago
  Do you know the public access point data is being attributed to customers' usage totals? Or does that just seem like the sort of thing they'd do?
  - Corrado 9y ago
    Well, if it weren't I would connect everything I own to that guest access point and bypass my cap completely. Or perhaps the speed of that connection is very slow. But then it wouldn't be much use to other customers either.
    - jachee 9y ago
      When you connect to an 'xfinitywifi' SSID, you have to authenticate with your comcast credentials. The usage is then tracked as yours, not whose-ever hotspot you hit.
      - 9y ago

yndoendo 9y ago

This is where tin foil is a great tool. Comcast sees the wifi activated but no one can connect though the layers of metal.

walrus01 9y ago
this is where you should buy your own DOCSIS3.0 modem which is a dumb L2 bridge with no NAT, routing or wifi functionality: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Download-Certified-Spectrum-TC-7610/dp/B010Q29YF8 https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Download-Certified-Spectrum-T...

smsm42 9y ago

I would actually be fine with it - I'm pretty sure I am not using full bandwidth supported by my cable and I'd be fine for Comcast to use it for whatever they like, in exchange for free Wifi and stuff. But when they also want to charge me a fee for that, that's where it doesn't work for me. If you want to host your infrastructure, which you sell, in my home - why I should be the one paying for it?