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

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1

Jeroen,

Not that I agree with this practice, I specifically got my own modem
because of this (and to have it directly attached to a real router) ,
however they use a separate DOCSIS and 802.11 channel so if would follow
that it would be a separate IP tied to comcast corporate and not the
subscriber as well as not taking up your bandwidth.
The bandwidth issue seems to be the only thing they can imagine people
being worried about and when you complain its the only thing they talk
about, making sure you know it wont take up any of your speed or quota.

2

IIRC there are only three non-overlapping channels on 802.11g and six on
802.11n; I can see more networks than that from my basement.

I haven't been keeping up with the technology, but in the ancient of days
wasn't the uplink side of DOCSIS also a limited-bandwidth, shared resource?

3

Comcast is pushing DOCSIS 3.0 heavily, and the channel allocation and
configuration in DOCSIS 3.0 is much more flexible, allowing speed
configurations by bonding channels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS

But the wifi, this is of course making an already crowded and noisy space
much worse. I live in a high density area with people that have wifi, and
its nearly useless. My devices that can be wired are, my 4G cell is often
faster and more reliable than trying to go 2.4ghz 802.11* on the same cell
phone. 5ghz is pretty empty, and I'm about to move to all Asus EA-N66 wifi
network on 5ghz.

I understand what Comcast is trying to do, but I think it should be an
opt-in type of thing instead.

4

It won't overlap with the one you are using for yourself on the same device.

DOCSIS has service flows with different priorities. I don't know if they are allocating specific channels for it or if it's just a different service flow, but either way it is a lower priority and should not cause contention with regular user traffic.

Really it is just the power they seem to be complaining about.

Phil

5

The technical aside, you could make it opt in and let people who opted in
use the public network free, and charge people not signed up or not even
Comcast customers for profit. This way it makes it feel more like building
a community to the consumer rather than big biz pulling one over on the
little guy.

6

It reads to me like it's not a separate Wi-Fi radio on a different channel, but just an additional SSID being broadcast:
http://wifi.comcast.com/faqs.html
ctrl+f "Does the new Home Hotspot impact my Internet speeds or data usage?"

7

The answer is, if someone is using your hotspot, it does use the same radio
and channel your ssid is on.

8

And per my other post, the citation was for two separate commercial
devices and the commercial WiFi AP being used 24x7. The one customers get
is a very, very different residential integrated gateway (and at that I
think it unlikely someone would be on the Xfinity WiFi SSID 24x7 at full
Tx/Rx rate).

Jason