Re: Comcast thinks it ok to install public wifi in your house

["Livingood, Jason" <Jason_Livingood () cable comcast com>]

On 12/10/14, 9:35 PM, "Jeroen van Aart" <jeroen () mompl net> wrote:


> Why am I not surprised?

You¹re a smart guy - don¹t believe everything you read. ;-)

> Whose fault would it be if your comcast installed public wifi would be
> abused to download illegal material or launch a botnet, to name some
> random fun one could have on your behalf. :-/

It would not be your fault. The public SSID has a separate IP address, so
the abuse would trace to that. In addition, all access is authenticated on
a per user / per device basis. So there is good abuse traceback.

> "A mother and daughter are suing Comcast claiming the cable giant¹s
> router in their home was offering public Wi-Fi without their permission.

Prior to rolling this out in a given market, generally speaking, each
customer is notified and provided with detailed opt-out instructions.

> So if you're passing by a fellow user's home, you can lock onto their
> public Wi-Fi, log in using your Comcast username and password, and use
> that home's bandwidth.

Not really; separate bandwidth in the DOCSIS network is provisioned for
this. 

> places a "vast² burden on electricity bills

The citation refers to a highly unscientific study by a company that
looked at a commercial cable modem, in combination with a separate
commercial-grade WiFi access point. Putting aside the accuracy of that
study, the two pieces of commercial equipment are very different from the
single residential WiFi gateway at question here.

- Jason Livingood
Comcast