[ale] OT: Comcast Wi-Fi

Fri Apr 25 14:18:55 EDT 2014

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFg5NjA=/z/XdgAAMXQVT9S~Y3R/$_57.JPG

On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 2:02 PM, Pete Hardie <pete.hardie at gmail.com> wrote:

> Is your cable modem one with the lights on the front labelled "wi-fi" ,
> "phone1" etc?  If so, is your wi-fi light lit?
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 1:38 PM, Boris Borisov <bugyatl at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I don't doubt Comcast got technically inclined people to do this
>> properly. My main concern was more of a ethical side. Why would you turn
>> something "on" without email or over phone talk.
>>
>> I did quick test. My LAN is on 10.0.0.x the other wi-fi is on 10.224.0.x
>> if I remembered the number. Seems like speeds are independent although
>> speedtest.net test over "xfinitywifi" wasnt able to finish - stuck on
>> the middle. There is not a trace about this Wi-Fi network on the router
>> control panel, I guess is hidden from me in the way IP passthru is hidden.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 1:03 PM, Lightner, Jeff <JLightner at dsservices.com
>> > wrote:
>>
>>>   Saying things done by corporations are not stupid or unethical or
>>> illegal doesn’t match my experience at all.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Just because it would be “obvious” to people that think that things
>>> should be a certain way is no reason to believe that they are that way.
>>> Most corporations are more interested in rolling out new things quickly
>>> than they are in insuring they don’t do them stupidly.    Assuming that
>>> they might actually NOT gouge you by charging you for the bandwidth they
>>> are providing to others would be foolhardy.   Whether they would do that by
>>> design (which is feasible) or by lack of attention to detail (which is also
>>> feasible) would be anyone’s guess.   I’ve had to call Comcast on more than
>>> one occasion after seeing the antics they’ve played with my bills.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> If you don’t think corporations do things to maximize their profits I’ll
>>> point out the recent article mentioning how very large banks (Chase, Wells
>>> Fargo, and Bank of America all mentioned) are posting transactions that
>>> overdraft your account from largest to smallest rather than chronologically
>>> to insure you end up paying more overdraft fees on smaller (yet
>>> chronologically earlier) checks.   They were previously caught doing
>>> exactly the same thing with debit card transactions but I think that got
>>> outlawed when they did some of the hasty banking reforms back in 2008/2009.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Or look at the fact that GM is only now recalling parts that have been
>>> known to kill people over a long period of years.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Corporations are in business to make money and pretending they don’t do
>>> shady if not outright illegal actions to that end is silly given all
>>> evidence to the contrary.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] *On Behalf Of *Brian
>>> Mathis
>>> *Sent:* Friday, April 25, 2014 11:23 AM
>>>
>>> *To:* Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
>>> *Subject:* Re: [ale] OT: Comcast Wi-Fi
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 3:12 PM, Michael H. Warfield <mhw at wittsend.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Thu, 2014-04-24 at 14:40 -0400, Boris Borisov wrote:
>>> > Yesterday I've noticed Comcast silently enabled additional wireless
>>> > network on my cable router named "xfinitywifi". I didn't get the
>>> > reason behind the idea but is open with web based login. Someone else
>>> > with same issue.
>>>
>>> Congratulations.  You just became the newest member of the Comcast
>>> wireless internet cafe provider club.  Someone with a Comcast login can
>>> now log in through the Comcast app gateway and take advantage of their
>>> expanded WiFi footprint through your free bandwidth that they're
>>> offering up!
>>>
>>> This has been mentioned in a number of forums over the last several
>>> months.  I don't recall if you can or how you opt-out of them offering
>>> your bandwidth to all comers.  Since I don't have Comcast, I can not
>>> test and say for sure from first hand experience.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Mike
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Please stop with the conspiracy theories.  Comcast may be evil, but they
>>> are not stupid, and anything they do is most certainly going to be legal.
>>>
>>> Adding this service from a customer location is:
>>>
>>> 1) Most likely in your customer agreement somewhere
>>>
>>>
>>> 2) OBVIOUSLY not going to count against bandwidth caps on your own
>>> account
>>>
>>>
>>> 3) OBVIOUSLY isolated to a different subnet/channel, just like any
>>> neighbor of yours could not see your traffic
>>>
>>>
>>> 4) Uses a totally separate wifi subsystem, which is why they need to
>>> "upgrade" your equipment for this service to work.  The new cable modem
>>> needs to have a totally separate AP, or at least a chip that can support
>>> multiple wireless APs.
>>>
>>>
>>> 5) Your own service speed will not be affected any differently than if
>>> your neighbor was using their own bandwidth.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> No, I don't have a source for any of this, but these are clearly the
>>> first questions anyone would ask inside a company when they decide to roll
>>> out a service like this.  Common sense isn't all that common, but this
>>> stuff is just bloody obvious.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> If they didn't do any of these, they could easily be sued by customers
>>> for either exposing their networks to security risks, and/or using up the
>>> data caps they paid for.  The only possible complaint you could make is
>>> more power usage, but at only a few hundred milliwatts for the additional
>>> wifi network, that's barely costing you a penny per year in power usage, if
>>> that.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  ❧ Brian Mathis
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Athena®, Created for the Cause™
>>>
>>> Making a Difference in the Fight Against Breast Cancer
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
>
> --
> Pete Hardie
> --------
> Better Living Through Bitmaps
>
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