> your cable provider already uses your cable modem as a hotspot for other people.

Is this for real? This does not affect me as I use my own equipment, but I still find it hard to believe.

Yes. Xfinity is the big one. Their devices create two hotspots: one for the customer and one to power their Xfinity WiFi service and for bandwidth offloading for their cellular service.

Instructions for disabling it: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/disable-xfinity-wif...

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jedbrooke a day ago | parent [-]

I have to say though as a xfinity customer, being able to get wifi basically anywhere urban is pretty nice

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ozlikethewizard a day ago | parent [-]

Yea this almosts sounds like it could be a great idea with proper execution, nothing like this in the UK. Imagine if they were upfront and said "well knock a tenner (or whatever is reasonable in the US) if you allow your access point to be used as a hotspot"

	▲	lozf 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> nothing like this in the UK. It turns out there are several similar services offered in the UK by ISP's like O2, Sky, and BT¹ (recently rebranded as EE-WiFi²) who claim to be the UK's largest WiFi Hotspot Network. Perhaps that's due to it being opt-out on their routers since it was first introduced over a decade ago. [¹]: https://info.btwifi.com/help/ [²]: https://ee-wifi.ee.co.uk/public/ee/index.htm

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akiselev a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Major ISPs in the US have been doing it for at least a decade. Xfinity Wifi [1] claims over 20 million wifi hotspots provided through customer routers.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfinity#Xfinity_WiFi

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Terr_ a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Started years ago:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/comcasts-new-neighborh...

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ButlerianJihad a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes. Cox has been doing it for years. They boast citywide hotspot access for all subscribers. I formerly thought that this hotspot network consisted of dedicated APs which they mount and maintain on utility poles in public places. But that’s just the start.

Every Cox customer has a Panoramic WiFi router that advertises as a member of the “CoxWiFi” SSID, and other customers can authenticate there and access the Internet through your connection. This is on a strictly opt-out basis.

I’ve opted-out, and also my router is permanently in Bridge Mode, so there is no technical way for me to provide anyone a WiFi connection. But all my neighbors do, even if they are blissfully unaware.

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saintfire a day ago | parent | next [-]

The best thing about fibre rollout in my region is that the ONT appears to act as the modem so I don't need to set the modem/router into bridge mode any more.

I'm sure that'll end.

	▲	DANmode a day ago \| parent [-]
		Why?

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robotnikman a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Another reason to use your own Wifi router and modem

	▲	drnick1 a day ago \| parent [-]
		Absolutely. Independently of the unauthorized sharing of your bandwidth, ISP gateways are notoriously insecure and underspec'ed. They also have nasty backdoors[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TR-069