As it aggressively seeks to grow its carrier-grade Wi-Fi footprint by building in a separate SSID signal into the modems of its residential subscribers, Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has purportedly offered its customers the ability to opt out of the program.
However, as DSL Reports noted Friday, with Comcast configuring its customers' leased Arris modems to pump out the separate Wi-Fi signal by default, not participating in the program can be challenging.
Its seems the frequent updating of the routers' firmware reverts users' settings back to the default public Wi-Fi mode, often without the subscriber being aware of this.
Noted one forum poster, for example, "My ability to turn Wi-Fi off via the "Users & Preferences" page [does] not exist. Calling the 800 number and going to Internet support gave me someone who only suggested trying to disable and re-enable bridge mode (which didn't eliminate 'xfinitywifi'). He then suggested I (get this!) read up on the Comcast customer forums on their website as 'there are constantly updates to the firmware in our modems and this is probably just an update that has an issue at the moment.'
For more:
- read this DSL Reports post
Related links:
Cable sees big future in Wi-Fi as video gives way to OTT, high programming costs
Comcast begins notifying customers: Congrats, your home is a Wi-Fi hotspot
Madden: How Wi-Fi is driving new competition in the mobile market
Wi-Fi Alliance's new Passpoint features ease login process, support preferred providers
The top 5 reasons cable operators are making big bets on Wi-Fi