[ale] OT: Comcast Wi-Fi

Fri Apr 25 14:20:20 EDT 2014

I'm using both wire and wireless capability of the modem!

On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 2:18 PM, Boris Borisov <bugyatl at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>>
>>
>> --
>> Pete Hardie
>> --------
>> Better Living Through Bitmaps
>>
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