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Comcast sued by customers for turning routers into public hotspots
- wglb 12y agoWell, with the customer having no option to authorize or otherwise control such use is simply not true, as there is a way (albeit not well documented) to turn this feature off. One side effect of this practice is that these wireless routers use more electricity than would a regular router generating only a single Wi-Fi network for the customer’s benefit, Seriously, what, an additional watt? Four? I do find this an annoying practice by Comcast and would have preferred an opt-in process, but some of the claims made just don't measure up. Extra wireless congestion? How much did you measure?
- ollysb 12y agoWhile i don't have any great issue with the practice(BT does this in the uk) I also don't really see much benefit. Given the range you'd have to be in an adjacent house/apartment to actually connect(or sitting outside someone's house in your car?!) at which point surely there would be a wifi connection there that you could use.
- PhantomGremlin 12y agoOr, you could just go buy your own equipment and save the $8/mo that Comcast charges you for a modem. Exactly as the article points out: “Go buy your own modem and router/gateway, and save yourself both the headache of not being able to control your own devices—and Comcast's soaring monthly hardware rental fees, which net Comcast $300 million in additional revenue per quarter.” I'm using my own Motorola/Arris SB6141 and am quite happy with it.