"Two days ago, Comcast did something that would be inconceivable if it was any other company than Comcast: It turned 50,000 residential Xfinity modems into public WiFi hotspots. There are 50,000 paying Xfinity customers in Houston, Texas who are now broadcasting free WiFi that anyone can use. As far as Comcast is concerned, of course, this is a genius move to blanket the country in high-speed WiFi (and there are plans to hijack millions more modems by the end of 2014) — for Comcast’s customers, though, this is egregious monopolistic overreach taken to the next level… and it’s possibly illegal as well."
Full story at:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/184263-comcast-turns-50000-paying-customer-homes-into-public-hotspots-millions-more-by-the-end-of-the-year
If there was no shitty Data Cap and my identity wasn't at risk I won't care too much. Don't get me wrong I'd be pissed that some one is leeching off of my wifi for free (like a person who doesn't seed their damn torrents). But at least I won't get charged extra if my neighbor uses up my 300GB limit.
I think the crazy thing here is that the costumer is paying a monthly fee for the device they are piggy backing on. On top of that the last time I checked they can't expand your wireless hardware through software meaning if you use there box for wireless you are most likely losing bandwidth when someone outside is using it for free
I am curious to see how this impacts cell phone usage in the area. You give me free wifi access everywhere. I would never use a phone. As much as i am not a fan of cable companies, I hate cell phone providers even more.