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powerComcast also took a beating regarding power of their cable box / DVR's recently as well.
Neither device could in any way be considered green. |
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ITGeeks join:2014-04-20 Cleveland, OH |
PowerRegardless, the EU has to pay for the power to use the modem or not. The actual cost of the power bill doesn't go up just because they're not using the modem. Most would leave it on anyway. Therefore nothing changes. |
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"...public usage...doesn't count against your Comcast usage..."Hm-mm..so if I have one of these Hotspots and hook up all my devices in wireless configuration ONLY and ONLY via the public usage access I can glean unlimited usage even if data caps exist in my area? |
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bigballer
Anon
2014-Aug-11 6:31 pm
really wish more people would partner with google wifiI have to be a comcast customer/pay them to use their wifi.
or.... I can be a noncustomer and use google wifi for free? Mhm... Google wifi has turned around starbucks wifi. |
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No @68.42.244.x |
to billburnett
Re: "...public usage...doesn't count against your Comcast usage..."When you connect to the hotspot you login using your Comcast info so it would still count against your cap. If a friend came over and logged in using HIS login then it would not count against your cap. |
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ITGeeks join:2014-04-20 Cleveland, OH |
to billburnett
That is what Comcast has stated before. |
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PlusOne to ITGeeks
Anon
2014-Aug-11 6:32 pm
to ITGeeks
Re: Powersaid by ITGeeks:Regardless, the EU has to pay for the power to use the modem or not. The actual cost of the power bill doesn't go up just because they're not using the modem. Most would leave it on anyway. Therefore nothing changes. Who cares., except maybe Al Gore. The cost of electricity will be about the same whether you provide WiFi access to great unwashed, or just for yourself and family. P.S.>> I didn't see anyone getting upset that Comcast was expected to pay the electricity bills of Netflix servers parked in Comcast data centers. |
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plencnerb Premium Member join:2000-09-25 53403-1242 |
I'll be glad to host one, if I don't have to pay the $8 monthly fee....Right now I am renting a non-gateway device (Arris TM722G). I would be willing to rent a gateway device from Comcast, and have the Wi-Fi Public Hotspot running, as long as Comcast was willing to not charge me the $8 rental fee for the device.
I think its only fair...I'm helping them provide a service that expands their public wireless network. Why not give me the device for free?
--Brian |
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to billburnett
Re: "...public usage...doesn't count against your Comcast usage..."No. Your connection to the public side of the router, whether it's your router or any other Comcast router, would count against your data cap. The same would apply to someone visiting your house. If they log into the router using their username/password, their usage would count against their cap. |
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Hm-mm..well maybe, then, my reading comprehension is a bit "off" today as the article clearly states "the public usage also thankfully doesn't count against your Comcast usage cap". |
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to billburnett
Dont think so. I had asked this when on with customer service (yeah I know they dont have the best rep these days.) explained it as you have to login with your account and what ever data you use still counts against your accounts bandwidth. The part that doesn't count is other people using your router. There is literally no advantage for someone to opt in to this service. Still have to pay a modem rental fee, no credit on your bill and you are not blocked out of using other peoples. |
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ITGeeks join:2014-04-20 Cleveland, OH |
to plencnerb
Re: I'll be glad to host one, if I don't have to pay the $8 monthly fee....But it gives you the option to go else where and use it, and if you upgrade the modem, you may not have a choice. |
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Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me. Premium Member join:2001-04-19 1970 442 W30 |
to billburnett
Re: "...public usage...doesn't count against your Comcast usage..."said by billburnett:Hm-mm..so if I have one of these Hotspots and hook up all my devices in wireless configuration ONLY and ONLY via the public usage access I can glean unlimited usage even if data caps exist in my area? Nope. None of that matters as you are using your account credentials and that is what they track by. Now if you used another person's credentials you would not use your allotment, but you would be using theirs instead. |
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ropeguru Premium Member join:2001-01-25 Mechanicsville, VA |
to billburnett
said by billburnett:Hm-mm..well maybe, then, my reading comprehension is a bit "off" today as the article clearly states "the public usage also thankfully doesn't count against your Comcast usage cap". You are a little off. So what that means is that if you have a 300GB cap for your service, and Joe Blow logs in with HIS HSI credentials on the hot spot, the data he uses will not go against YOUR cap. But, if his service also has that 300GB cap, the data he uses on YOUR hot spot connection will go against his caps. |
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ropeguru |
to ITGeeks
Re: I'll be glad to host one, if I don't have to pay the $8 monthly fee....They want to nickel and dime the customer to death, so why shouldn't the customer get the same benefit to comcast? |
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PlusOne to ropeguru
Anon
2014-Aug-11 6:45 pm
to ropeguru
Re: "...public usage...doesn't count against your Comcast usage..."said by ropeguru:said by billburnett:Hm-mm..well maybe, then, my reading comprehension is a bit "off" today as the article clearly states "the public usage also thankfully doesn't count against your Comcast usage cap". You are a little off. So what that means is that if you have a 300GB cap for your service, and Joe Blow logs in with HIS HSI credentials on the hot spot, the data he uses will not go against YOUR cap. But, if his service also has that 300GB cap, the data he uses on YOUR hot spot connection will go against his caps. By George, I believe you have it. |
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Comcast should offer a price break...As others have said, you're paying monthly for the modem...and the power ($8/year more due to additional load, looks like). So to encourage folks *not* to turn off the WiFi, Comcast should offer a bill credit in exchange for keeping the xfinitywifi SSID on. Particularly since the SSID will draw over-the-air capacity from your main connection (a problem if you're at 100+ Mbps and trying to use that over standard 11n in 2.4 GHz). I'd say that a discount in the $3-$8 per month region would be reasonable. Maybe they won't rent the modem for free, because adding the hotspot isn't worth that much to them. But $3? Probably worth it.
EDIT: And yes, I think that $3 per sub is a reasonable approximation of the value Comcast gets from an addition to their WiFi network. Stickier customers and roaming opportunities, particularly with a higher-power customer router. |
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to ropeguru
Re: "...public usage...doesn't count against your Comcast usage..."Thanks for the clarification...it's slick marketing language at play, especially when the words "public" and "open" are thrown about, to make the whole scheme seem so "attractive". |
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PlusOne to plencnerb
Anon
2014-Aug-11 6:49 pm
to plencnerb
Re: I'll be glad to host one, if I don't have to pay the $8 monthly fee....said by plencnerb:Right now I am renting a non-gateway device (Arris TM722G). I would be willing to rent a gateway device from Comcast, and have the Wi-Fi Public Hotspot running, as long as Comcast was willing to not charge me the $8 rental fee for the device.
I think its only fair...I'm helping them provide a service that expands their public wireless network. Why not give me the device for free?
--Brian Plus One. I agree with you about fees. Though personally, I wouldn't provide public access no matter what saving I might get. |
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Comcast HotspotSo all I have to do is name my guest WIFI XfinitityWifi, point it to a machine on my network, create a fake Comcast log on page, and I can then capture the credentials of anyone that tries to access their Comcast mail. I could go further and do some code to just pass the XfinityWifi data through my box and intercept anything the user of that hot spot sends or receives. Most users would never notice the lack of HTTPS on the log on page.
This whole thing seems like a large security risk for Comcast customers. |
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to Doctor Olds
Re: "...public usage...doesn't count against your Comcast usage..."Thanks! |
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to raythompsontn
Re: Comcast HotspotHeck, go all the way and grab an SSL cert, since they're so cheap. Give 'em the green box. Then grab the creds and you've now uncapped yourself |
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to plencnerb
Re: I'll be glad to host one, if I don't have to pay the $8 monthly fee....said by plencnerb:Why not give me the device for free? Because the word FREE and Comcast do not go together. |
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newviewEx .. Ex .. Exactly Premium Member join:2001-10-01 Parsonsburg, MD
1 recommendation |
newview
Premium Member
2014-Aug-11 6:54 pm
The feeling is reciprocal, ComcastAs recent events have illustrated, Comcast could really care less about their customers and their problems, instead using their Customer Service department as an extension of their Sales and Marketing initiative.
Lying and deceit are part and parcel of Comcast's corporate structure, training and ethics. No matter how much they claim to care about their customers, we know different ... and we don't like being constantly and consistently lied to.
Their expectation that their customers should foot the bill BY DEFAULT, without them even asking permission, and with no compensation whatsoever, is typical Comcast arrogance, and just another in the long list of numerous reasons why they are the Worst Company in America and hated by so many of their subscribers, and those who do NOT subscribe as well.
As such, I wouldn't help Comcast in any way, shape or form in their WiFi Hotspot expansion, in fact I go out of my way to warn people off of it any chance I get.
I wouldn't piss on Comcast if they were on fire. |
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Cthen Premium Member join:2004-08-01 Detroit, MI |
Cthen
Premium Member
2014-Aug-11 6:57 pm
OkSo let's say I get one of these. What is in it for me to host a hotspot for Comcast? Aside from being able to say "Hey, I host a hotspot for Comcast while people use my bandwidth to connect and I still pay the same each month!"? |
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rody_44 Premium Member join:2004-02-20 Quakertown, PA |
to raythompsontn
Re: Comcast Hotspot You have no capability to see the wireless network on the wifi side. Its a totally different network that isnt accessable from the other. You can do it by actually logging into the wifi side. But thats a risk with any fee wifi and something you can do by parking outside starbucks or mcdonalds. |
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jobias join:2006-01-18 Knoxville, TN |
jobias
Member
2014-Aug-11 6:59 pm
2v4?I like that Speedify is checking this stuff, but I wish they'd work on a bit more consistent testing methodology. The last post in they tested the two components of the hotspot system. This test, they say that the gateway is replacing four components (both the hotspot system and their business modem and wifi access point), but they're comparing the results only to the two components tested previously. I'd be interested in seeing what the full difference is for anyone that already has the hotspot and private systems, and for someone that has just the business equipment and wanted to replace it with one of the new gateways. Of which I suspect the answer is more expensive for the latter, less for the former, but I dunno cause they didn't check that And sadly, in looking back at their post again, I suspect they won't be able to since it was a tech that installed the new gateway and probably took the Netgear with him. Unless they already grabbed stats from the Kill-a-Watt for the netgear and linksys. Hope they did. |
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1 recommendation |
to raythompsontn
Re: Comcast HotspotI have Comcast HSI, but I seriously dislike the idea of anyone else (i.e. strangers) using my router and modem to access the internet via an "open" or "public" gateway. Since I own my own router and modem (which is way cheaper than renting equipment from Comcast, anyway), it seems I would have zero incentive to switch over to using Comcast-provided hardware to provide this "service" to other folks, since I gain nothing from doing so, I would incur additional potential security risks on my end, and I would incur additional hardware costs for the "privilege" of providing such a hotspot. |
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rody_44 Premium Member join:2004-02-20 Quakertown, PA |
to Cthen
Re: Ok You dont pay for other peoples bandwidth and the only thing in it for you is the ability to use other peoples free wifi. Its simple if you dont want to supply it log in to your comcast portal and shut it off. |
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to rody_44
Re: Comcast Hotspotsaid by rody_44: You have no capability to see the wireless network on the wifi side. I am quite aware of that. I can, however, name my guest WIFI network the same as Comcast as I am not running a Comcast router. People would now think that my network is the Comcast network. I can now do with that traffic what I please as I now have access to that WIFI network. Any public WIFI is risky. There is nothing stopping any business with "free" WIFI to name their network the same as Comcast. I would never use a public WIFI to access anything that requires any sort of credentials as those credentials may get exposed. I may read something on the WEB, check weather, etc. But nothing else. |
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