

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

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wglb
Well, _with the customer having no option to authorize or otherwise control
such use_ is simply not true, as there is a way (albeit not well documented)
to turn this feature off.

 _One side effect of this practice is that these wireless routers use more
electricity than would a regular router generating only a single Wi-Fi network
for the customer’s benefit,_

Seriously, what, an additional watt? Four?

I do find this an annoying practice by Comcast and would have preferred an
opt-in process, but some of the claims made just don't measure up. Extra
wireless congestion? How much did you measure?

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ollysb
While i don't have any great issue with the practice(BT does this in the uk) I
also don't really see much benefit. Given the range you'd have to be in an
adjacent house/apartment to actually connect(or sitting outside someone's
house in your car?!) at which point surely there would be a wifi connection
there that you could use.

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PhantomGremlin
Or, you could just go buy your own equipment and save the $8/mo that Comcast
charges you for a modem. Exactly as the article points out:

    
    
       “Go buy your own modem and router/gateway,
       and save yourself both the headache of not
       being able to control your own devices—and
       Comcast's soaring monthly hardware rental
       fees, which net Comcast $300 million in
       additional revenue per quarter.”
    

I'm using my own Motorola/Arris SB6141 and am quite happy with it.

