Comcast Turning Chicago Homes Into Xfinity Hotspots 253
BUL2294 writes "The Chicago Tribune is reporting that, over the next few months in Chicago, Comcast is turning on a feature that turns customer networks into public Wi-Fi hotspots. After a firmware upgrade is installed, 'visitors will use their own Xfinity credentials to sign on, and will not need the homeowner's permission or password to tap into their Wi-Fi signal. The homegrown network will also be available to non-subscribers free for several hours each month, or on a pay-per-use basis. Any outside usage should not affect the speed or security of the home subscriber's private network. [...] Home internet subscribers will automatically participate in the network's growing infrastructure, although a small number have chosen to opt out in other test markets.' The article specifically mentions that this capability is opt-out, so Comcast is relying on home users' property, electricity, and lack of tech-savvy to increase their network footprint."
Comcast tried this in the Twin Cities area, and was apparently satisfied with the results, though subscribers are starting to notice.
That is why you use your own router (Score:5, Interesting)
That, folks, is why you never use an ISP provided router. Of course at some point you'll be forced to "upgrade" to a modem with integrated wifi.
Don't trust their "opt-out" (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:So what happens (Score:5, Interesting)
So the easiest way would be to set up a fake access point with graphics stolen from Comcast's real site and then collect the usernames/passwords from people who are trying to connect to it.
Then use those to login to other Comcast sites and do whatever evil you want to.
The best part is that the poor person whom you're framing will have a more difficult time clearing his name because the evil activity happening in his name is happening in his city.
Re:This shit is already polluting the SF Bay Area (Score:3, Interesting)
How do they manage bandwidth caps?
How do they maintain service levels to the paying customer?
It is true that a docsis 3.0 cable modem can deliver many more bits than
most (but not all) subscribers pay for. If and only if the service
base is never infringed on does this pass my muster.
HOWEVER WiFi bandwidth is not as flexible and that is what
they are stealing and reselling.
If I did not own my own WiFi hardware I would be in court ...
I WANT COMPENSATION.
It is difficult enough to compete with neighbor WiFi and this
will force many transmitters to dial up their power increasing
the interference.
Same for the durn Femto Cell tower that ATT sold me at a discount.
Today I have apparent control over the connections allowed
but that could change. BTW... they are not magic and seriously
drop calls faster than pre Obamacare health insurance companies.
Re:This shit is already polluting the SF Bay Area (Score:5, Interesting)
How do they manage bandwidth caps? They same way they don't bill you for cable TV channel bandwidth. They know what's coming across their network and from where.
Additionally, Comcast Business customers (at least) are being provided with a separate cablemodem and router/AP for the public wifi.
My POB's main office just installed a 75/15 link a month or so ago. Once we found out what the equipment was for, we disabled it immediately. We also disabled the wifi on the private router/AP as well, as we already have a heavily secured wireless AP on premises and simply don't trust Comcast enough not to try and circumvent our precautions. And god help them if they do.
Re:So what happens (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, the 1 cent per year.
You're using a ludicrous argument to try to wedge an on-principle enforcement into a world you don't like. If someone actually stole a penny from you per year, you wouldn't really care. If they reached into your coat pocket to take a penny, you would be very upset about the invasion of personal space, and might scream something useless about stealing when all you really care about is people groping around in your pockets.
Well Comcast owns the line and the modem. They lease you service with a specific SLA. As long as that SLA is in place--as long as the bandwidth you pay for is available when you try to use it--they're completely within their rights to lease additional on that line, and to use their equipment to provide access as long as they don't allow for unagreed intrusion into your property. So nobody's coming inside your house to plug in a CAT6 cable; and they're not connecting up to your private network, either; therefor, there's nothing of note happening here.
A Client of Mine Had One Installed Yesterday... (Score:3, Interesting)
What pissed me off is that the client is paying for the electricity and hosting the device for Comcast and not allowed to use it. To top it all off, the stuck a sticker on the clients front window advertising the hotspot with out asking (this is a law office). Needless to say, I ripped that sticker off the minute I saw it.
Re:So what happens (Score:4, Interesting)
Your argument is invalid and ludicrous. I did not argue that mark-up was bad, or anything else analogous to a vending machine price on bottled water being relatively high.
Your argument is that Comcast is stealing a penny from you, because of electricity costs--that a Wifi access point may use 0.1mW more power when someone is accessing it. My argument is that the equipment and the line are the property of Comcast, and that as long as they meet their SLA they are doing nothing wrong, and that you are only upset because of a perceived invasion of personal space and not because of any real and physical thing such as service degradation or expense to yourself.
Face it: Comcast is costing you nothing, they are getting something for free, and you are rubbing your greasy lawsuit-happy merchant hands together trying to find an argument for why they are somehow inconveniencing you and owe you recompense. If they simply backed off from this, you would get nothing, and you would also lose the option to use your Comcast account anywhere you could find a cable modem within Wifi range--you would be poorer. Comcast's options have made you somewhat more wealthy because you have access to a resource you previously did not and nobody has to pay for it; but that's not enough for you, you want to make Comcast pay you for the privilege of making your life better.
Lawsuit-happy, greedy Americans. There's eight billion tonnes of shit Comcast is doing that we can complain about, and you bitch about the one thing they do that's actually a zero-cost benefit to basically everyone.
Re:So what happens (Score:4, Interesting)
Why would you presume that? These modems typically have just one IP address, and I would presume that they NAT using the same one for the XFINITY wireless and for the home user.
Maybe because he knows what he's talking about and you don't?
As mentioned in the article the Xfinity users connect to the Xfinity SSID which is an open Wifi network while your Wifi network has a different SSID and is encrypted. So at the WiFi level the networks are completely separate. People seem to think this multiple Wifi network capability is new. It's not. Every access point of the past 10 years I've known about has supported 4 separate networks all along.
Then at the IP level, the way these community Wifi hotspots normally work is that when a guest connects to it he gets an address from a separate network range. Think of it as a VPN if that helps you. This ensures the guest's access is restricted to the official login server until he has registered. It also ensures the guest's IP traffic is separate from the user's local WiFi network. It also makes it possible to keep track of the guest's traffic for billing (if there's billing involved), and solves the copyright police issues.