6 ms·

Xfinity won't give folks in certain locales (maybe everywhere in the US?) unlimited bandwidth unless they use their modem/router. This seems like a good reason

Xfinity won't give folks in certain locales (maybe everywhere in the US?) unlimited bandwidth unless they use their modem/router. This seems like a good reason that practice should be illegal.

reaperducer 1y ago
I use a cellular connection for my internet, but my apartment building is wired with Xfinity, and probably 90% of people use it. Naturally, there is no way for me to opt out of this.
- BarryMilo 1y ago
  Time to make your apartment a faraday cage!
  - Tijdreiziger 1y ago
    RF-blocking paint exists.
    - kube-system 1y ago
      And contrary to popular belief, neither it nor a faraday cage blocks RF. They attenuate it, to varying degrees.
      - zzo38computer 1y ago
        There is still the question of how much the attenuation is and if it can prevent the detection. There is also the issue if you want to receive other radio signals such as AM radio, FM radio, amateur radio, etc.
- bikenaga 1y ago
  Does your apartment lease require that you use Comcast's hardware? When I signed up for Xfinity years ago I wanted to use my own hardware (NetGear cable modem, Buffalo Airstation with DD-WRT). I forget now whether I had to walk through the activation over the phone with a tech - I vaguely recall having to provide some information about the modem, which was one of the models listed as supported on their use-your-own-hardware web page - but the whole thing was easy. Other people have mentioned that not using Comcast's stuff means that certain features won't be available, but I don't care. I don't have huge bandwidth needs, for instance.
  - MobiusHorizons 1y ago
    I believe the person you are replying to does not use comcast, but is saying they cant' opt out of this spying due to their neighbors using comcast.
- kstrauser 1y ago
  Are you in California? I'd contend there's a CCPA issue there. "I live at X address, and demand that you not collect my movement information from any of your equipment at this address or others."
afruitpie 1y ago
As far as I’m aware, Xfinity fiber customers have to use the provided “Xfinity Wi-Fi Gateway” and cannot enable bridge mode. If anyone knows a way around this, please share! I want to connect my Xfinity ONT directly to my UniFi router.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago
  In that situation, I would put the vendor modem in a microwave or other impromptu faraday cage to prevent the leakage. Remove/isolate the antennas as best as possible.
  - Saris 1y ago
    Can also open it up and disconnect the wifi antennas, or cut the traces if they're on the PCB.
    - 0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago
      Those vendor modems are rentals and expected to be returned in working order. Would you likely get away with it? Sure, nobody is paying techs to diagnose why the WiFi is failing for unit #367326, but cutting traces is definitely crossing some lines.
      - Saris 1y ago
        I mean if they're going to track me then it's fair game IMO.
      - soupfordummies 1y ago
        I wonder what they do with them when they’re returned. Ship em off in pallets to e waste buyers in China I would guess.
        hatsunearu 1y ago
        I think they get refurbished and sent back to other customers.
dylan604 1y ago
So use their router, but connect your own to it. Then turn off the WiFi in their equipment
- femiagbabiaka 1y ago
  I'm doing the first bit, but I can't turn off the wifi -- only stop broadcasting my "personal" network. And actually, as I went in to make sure that was the case, I saw that broadcasting of my personal network had been forcibly turned back on. Lovely!
  - dylan604 1y ago
    If you don't broadcast your SSID, then how can device manufactures have hyper accurate location services available when GPS is not? You're not participating in the system! Hell, as much money as theGoogs gives to be the default search to various companies, would they not be willing to pay ISPs to keep that option on? I'm just throwing ideas out that I know nothing about, but I don't see why they would be opposed to the concept.
    - femiagbabiaka 1y ago
      This is an old article, but still accurate. By default every Xfinity router also advertises Xfinity's public wifi offering: https://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast-wifi-hotspot/ https://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast.... Now if you turn that off then what? Not sure, but I trust Xfinity and their lawyers to find a way :)
    - nandomrumber 1y ago
      Doesn’t turning off SSID broadcast result in devices that have the wifi network saved repeatedly broadcast a request for the AP to identify itself in an effort to establish a connection?
      - dylan604 1y ago
        I'm not sure I follow. Why would a network known to the device not be connected to the network? If you never connected your device to their wifi and only connected to your wifi connected via ethernet, why would it even know to make a request? If you're not actively connecting to the WiFi in your house, why not just "forget network"? Seems like a strange hypothetical, but aren't they all?
m463 1y ago
I was thinking about this with respect to the new uncomplicated no-contract service with no caps they started offering: https://www.slashdot.org/story/25/06/26/2124252/comcasts-new-plans-dump-the-data-caps https://www.slashdot.org/story/25/06/26/2124252/comcasts-new... Apparently you can get 1/2gbit ethernet only modems without wifi. You don't save any money over using their equipment.
zeta0134 1y ago
This practice, and fear of the exact sort of nonsense in this article, plus wanting to keep my wifi bandwidth free for the network I actually connect to, is why I'm still on AT&T DSL in my area, at 50 mbps. Comcast is available at up to gigabit, and they can keep it.
- harles 1y ago
  AT&T is pretty bad in its own way. They snoop DNS and to sell your info (including physical address) to advertisers - even if you switch your DNS providers. They used to had a paid opt out (~$20/mo IIRC) but I don’t see that option anymore.
  - aaronmdjones 1y ago
    This is quite easy to avoid by using DNS over TLS. It's like 15 minutes of effort in some OpenWRT documentation [1]. If you want any hope of having some semblance of control and privacy, you would already be using your own router, with their CPE being relegated to modem-only duties. It only makes sense that in this situation you choose a router that can run highly-configurable and privacy-preserving software. I did it several months ago, including the optional adding an outbound firewall rule dropping forwarded UDP/TCP 53 traffic (I tried the redirect rule suggested there first, but it didn't work and the firewall ruleset failed to load, so a drop will have to do. I didn't bother investigating why, because everything on my LANs is configured to use the router as their only nameserver anyway). I also added a rule dropping it from the router itself in case something breaks, for example if it suddenly decides to start honouring the DHCP-received nameserver addresses (my ISP) despite being configured not to. EDIT: The article doesn't make this clear, but the bootstrap section is only necessary if you specify upstream nameservers by name (e.g. "https://dns.cloudflare.com/dns-query https://dns.cloudflare.com/dns-query"). This is not required. For example, you can configure a manual upstream of "tls://1.1.1.1" like I did, and then it doesn't need to do any DNS lookups at all, so does not need to be configured with bootstrap servers, so will not break if you add the 2 firewall rules I mentioned. [1] https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/dns/dot_dnsmasq_dnsproxy https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/dns/dot_dnsmasq...
  - 1y ago
kacesensitive 1y ago
Exactly why I rent the modem but it sits unplugged in the closet lol
kelnos 1y ago
I use my own modem/router with them, but I have to pay an extra $30/mo for unlimited download. Complete garbage. I wish there was competition; Comcast is my only realistic option in San Francisco.
AzzyHN 1y ago
If you want to remove the 1.2TB data cap, you can either pay $25/mo and get Xfinity's gateway router "included" OR pay $30/mo to use your own modem/router.
- mafuy 1y ago
  I have to pay more when I do not use their device? Crazy...
  - const_cast 1y ago
    Right, it makes you wonder what they're getting out of using the first-party device. Companies usually aren't in the business of burning money.
- bl4kers 1y ago
  I use my own and there's a data cap.
  - jacobgkau 1y ago
    I did too last time I had my own internet service, but I wasn't paying the $30/month fee to have unlimited bandwidth. Are you? (And if so, why, if they're not giving you the unlimited bandwidth?)
- qcic 1y ago
  Put their WiFi router inside a faraday’s cage and wire a modem behind it. That should shave off the $25/mo.

Xfinity won't give folks in certain locales (maybe everywhere in the US?) unlimited bandwidth unless they use their modem/router. This seems like a good reason that practice should be illegal.

reaperducer 1y ago

I use a cellular connection for my internet, but my apartment building is wired with Xfinity, and probably 90% of people use it. Naturally, there is no way for me to opt out of this.

BarryMilo 1y ago
Time to make your apartment a faraday cage!
- Tijdreiziger 1y ago
  RF-blocking paint exists.
  - kube-system 1y ago
    And contrary to popular belief, neither it nor a faraday cage blocks RF. They attenuate it, to varying degrees.
    - zzo38computer 1y ago
      There is still the question of how much the attenuation is and if it can prevent the detection. There is also the issue if you want to receive other radio signals such as AM radio, FM radio, amateur radio, etc.
bikenaga 1y ago
Does your apartment lease require that you use Comcast's hardware? When I signed up for Xfinity years ago I wanted to use my own hardware (NetGear cable modem, Buffalo Airstation with DD-WRT). I forget now whether I had to walk through the activation over the phone with a tech - I vaguely recall having to provide some information about the modem, which was one of the models listed as supported on their use-your-own-hardware web page - but the whole thing was easy. Other people have mentioned that not using Comcast's stuff means that certain features won't be available, but I don't care. I don't have huge bandwidth needs, for instance.
- MobiusHorizons 1y ago
  I believe the person you are replying to does not use comcast, but is saying they cant' opt out of this spying due to their neighbors using comcast.
kstrauser 1y ago
Are you in California? I'd contend there's a CCPA issue there. "I live at X address, and demand that you not collect my movement information from any of your equipment at this address or others."

afruitpie 1y ago

As far as I’m aware, Xfinity fiber customers have to use the provided “Xfinity Wi-Fi Gateway” and cannot enable bridge mode. If anyone knows a way around this, please share! I want to connect my Xfinity ONT directly to my UniFi router.

0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago
In that situation, I would put the vendor modem in a microwave or other impromptu faraday cage to prevent the leakage. Remove/isolate the antennas as best as possible.
- Saris 1y ago
  Can also open it up and disconnect the wifi antennas, or cut the traces if they're on the PCB.
  - 0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago
    Those vendor modems are rentals and expected to be returned in working order. Would you likely get away with it? Sure, nobody is paying techs to diagnose why the WiFi is failing for unit #367326, but cutting traces is definitely crossing some lines.
    - Saris 1y ago
      I mean if they're going to track me then it's fair game IMO.
    - soupfordummies 1y ago
      I wonder what they do with them when they’re returned. Ship em off in pallets to e waste buyers in China I would guess.
      - hatsunearu 1y ago
        I think they get refurbished and sent back to other customers.

dylan604 1y ago

So use their router, but connect your own to it. Then turn off the WiFi in their equipment

femiagbabiaka 1y ago
I'm doing the first bit, but I can't turn off the wifi -- only stop broadcasting my "personal" network. And actually, as I went in to make sure that was the case, I saw that broadcasting of my personal network had been forcibly turned back on. Lovely!
- dylan604 1y ago
  If you don't broadcast your SSID, then how can device manufactures have hyper accurate location services available when GPS is not? You're not participating in the system! Hell, as much money as theGoogs gives to be the default search to various companies, would they not be willing to pay ISPs to keep that option on? I'm just throwing ideas out that I know nothing about, but I don't see why they would be opposed to the concept.
  - femiagbabiaka 1y ago
    This is an old article, but still accurate. By default every Xfinity router also advertises Xfinity's public wifi offering: https://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast-wifi-hotspot/ https://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast.... Now if you turn that off then what? Not sure, but I trust Xfinity and their lawyers to find a way :)
  - nandomrumber 1y ago
    Doesn’t turning off SSID broadcast result in devices that have the wifi network saved repeatedly broadcast a request for the AP to identify itself in an effort to establish a connection?
    - dylan604 1y ago
      I'm not sure I follow. Why would a network known to the device not be connected to the network? If you never connected your device to their wifi and only connected to your wifi connected via ethernet, why would it even know to make a request? If you're not actively connecting to the WiFi in your house, why not just "forget network"? Seems like a strange hypothetical, but aren't they all?

m463 1y ago

I was thinking about this with respect to the new uncomplicated no-contract service with no caps they started offering: https://www.slashdot.org/story/25/06/26/2124252/comcasts-new-plans-dump-the-data-caps https://www.slashdot.org/story/25/06/26/2124252/comcasts-new... Apparently you can get 1/2gbit ethernet only modems without wifi. You don't save any money over using their equipment.

zeta0134 1y ago

This practice, and fear of the exact sort of nonsense in this article, plus wanting to keep my wifi bandwidth free for the network I actually connect to, is why I'm still on AT&T DSL in my area, at 50 mbps. Comcast is available at up to gigabit, and they can keep it.

harles 1y ago
AT&T is pretty bad in its own way. They snoop DNS and to sell your info (including physical address) to advertisers - even if you switch your DNS providers. They used to had a paid opt out (~$20/mo IIRC) but I don’t see that option anymore.
- aaronmdjones 1y ago
  This is quite easy to avoid by using DNS over TLS. It's like 15 minutes of effort in some OpenWRT documentation [1]. If you want any hope of having some semblance of control and privacy, you would already be using your own router, with their CPE being relegated to modem-only duties. It only makes sense that in this situation you choose a router that can run highly-configurable and privacy-preserving software. I did it several months ago, including the optional adding an outbound firewall rule dropping forwarded UDP/TCP 53 traffic (I tried the redirect rule suggested there first, but it didn't work and the firewall ruleset failed to load, so a drop will have to do. I didn't bother investigating why, because everything on my LANs is configured to use the router as their only nameserver anyway). I also added a rule dropping it from the router itself in case something breaks, for example if it suddenly decides to start honouring the DHCP-received nameserver addresses (my ISP) despite being configured not to. EDIT: The article doesn't make this clear, but the bootstrap section is only necessary if you specify upstream nameservers by name (e.g. "https://dns.cloudflare.com/dns-query https://dns.cloudflare.com/dns-query"). This is not required. For example, you can configure a manual upstream of "tls://1.1.1.1" like I did, and then it doesn't need to do any DNS lookups at all, so does not need to be configured with bootstrap servers, so will not break if you add the 2 firewall rules I mentioned. [1] https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/dns/dot_dnsmasq_dnsproxy https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/dns/dot_dnsmasq...
- 1y ago

kacesensitive 1y ago

Exactly why I rent the modem but it sits unplugged in the closet lol

kelnos 1y ago

I use my own modem/router with them, but I have to pay an extra $30/mo for unlimited download. Complete garbage. I wish there was competition; Comcast is my only realistic option in San Francisco.

AzzyHN 1y ago

If you want to remove the 1.2TB data cap, you can either pay $25/mo and get Xfinity's gateway router "included" OR pay $30/mo to use your own modem/router.

mafuy 1y ago
I have to pay more when I do not use their device? Crazy...
- const_cast 1y ago
  Right, it makes you wonder what they're getting out of using the first-party device. Companies usually aren't in the business of burning money.
bl4kers 1y ago
I use my own and there's a data cap.
- jacobgkau 1y ago
  I did too last time I had my own internet service, but I wasn't paying the $30/month fee to have unlimited bandwidth. Are you? (And if so, why, if they're not giving you the unlimited bandwidth?)
qcic 1y ago
Put their WiFi router inside a faraday’s cage and wire a modem behind it. That should shave off the $25/mo.