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Ask HN: Did Comcast just screw me over?

by dan-silver on 3/17/16, 3:39 AM with 11 comments

I noticed yesterday that Comcast enabled their public wifi hotspot[1] on my home router. I'm not sure if there are security risks or if it increases my electric bill, but it provides no additional benefit to me so I want it disabled. Since they removed the easy way of disabling it from their website, I called them and they disabled it. However, I'm now thinking that they just stopped the ssid broadcast since I can see another network with the same signal strength that the hotspot had, just without any network name. I'm using an android app[1] to chart the signal strengths of networks. I clearly stated to them that the network should be completely disabled, so I'm very confused.

Is there any way for me to know if this other network is still the Comcast Xfinity public hotspot?

[1] http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/comcast-sued-by-customers-for-turning-routers-into-public-hotspots/

[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en

  • by nness on 3/17/16, 4:21 AM

    Power cycle the modem and see if the hotspot disappears and reappears with the modem. That would be fairly conclusive.
  • by moondev on 3/17/16, 4:04 AM

    Just buy your own modem from amazon. You get total control and don't have to pay them to lease your modem/router
  • by PythonDeveloper on 3/17/16, 3:45 AM

    If there are external antennae on the unit, just unscrew them and that will effectively disable the wifi radio since it can't attenuate.