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Califbill

Hank© wrote:
On 11/23/2013 12:48 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 11/23/2013 12:31 PM, BAR wrote:
In article ,
says...

Comcast just enabled a new feature on our home wifi system. You have
to have the new, updated equipment and modem/router that is provided by
them for it to work.

What they do is enable your wifi router to transmit and receive another
independent signal. It shows up as "XFINITYWiFi" on your computer
available networks list, iPad or cell phone. It is unsecured and doesn't
interfere with your existing, secured connection, nor does it slow
anything down. Anyone signed onto it is *not* connected to your
existing, secured network, so they can't access any file sharing or
anything you have set up on your network.

It's designed to allow guests, visitors or anyone within receiving range
of the signal to access the Internet and email virtually anywhere as
long as you are a Comcast customer. It means that once they upgrade
everyone, you could drive down the street and access the Internet
anywhere there is a home WiFi system provided by Comcast. That's a lot
of free "hot spots" in our area since Comcast dominates the cable TV and
Internet market in our area.

In our case nobody driving on the road will benefit from our house
because we are too far from the road for them to get the signal. But
in most areas with houses close to the road, you should be able to
access the internet everywhere. It can also be used by house guests and
visitors as long as they have a Comcast account.

When you first connect to it, it doesn't indicate that you have Internet
access. Says "local only". But, if you open a browser, it takes you to
a Comcast page where you enter your user name (or Comcast email address)
and your password. You only have to do this once per device. Once
you've done that, you have full access to the Internet.

You can also request that this capability be disabled on your
modem/router if you don't want it. Personally, I think it's pretty cool
and a clever way to make Internet access available to Comcast account
holders almost everywhere.

Funny, not too long ago it was a big deal to be "stealing" someone
else's WiFi connection. Now they are encouraging it.

Why would you want to expose your internet connection to anyone and
everyone within range.
When the government comes to you and says where were you doing illegal
operations from your
internet connection what are you going to say?

That was one of the concerns that I had ... and Greg also raised it as a
potential issue. However, it's not a problem or risk.

The "second channel" that is broadcast is totally independent of the
primary secured, home network channel. It's really a Comcast owned and
controlled connection and has nothing to do with your home network. I
confirmed, both with Comcast and on my computer that the IP addresses
are different. I checked our reported IP address on the primary,
secured network, then disconnected from it, connected to the second
"XFINITYWiFi" signal and it reported a totally different IP.

I think there is a lot of confusion about this, as I was initially when
I received the email from Comcast announcing and explaining this new
feature/service. Again, people are *not* able to sign onto your home
network and it isn't "exposed". The purpose of the Comcast/Xfinity
owned and controlled signal is to eventually make your whole area, town
and state an Xfinity "hotspot".

You can opt out of having your home router having the second channel
capability. At first I was inclined to do that because I really didn't
understand what it was for but now that I do, I'll leave it. There's no
security risk to the regular connection.

It is also only accessible to Comcast customers. If you don't have a
Comcast account, you can't use it.

Let's hope Comcast never gets their wires crossed.

Cheap way for Comcast to get lots of hotspots.