Lawsuit claims Wi-Fi service costs consumers
Comcast’s attempt to spread the reach of its Internet signal by tapping into its customers’ Wi-Fi routers has run into legal interference as the beginnings of a potential class-action lawsuit has surfaced in Northern California.
A pair of Comcast customers last week filed a lawsuit against the cable giant claiming the default settings on its home Xfinity Wi-Fi router that provides for a separate “public” signal was basically shifting the company’s plans to expand its Internet service via the backs of consumers.
According to a report from SFGate, the lawsuit cites a test conducted earlier this year by Speedify that found the secondary Internet channel that is the default setting in Comcast-provided routers will eventually push “tens of millions of dollars per month of the electricity bills needed to run their nationwide public Wi-Fi network onto consumers.”
Comcast has said that the “Neighborhood Hotspots” policy results in only a small degradation in a customer’s own network speed. The service taps into a default setting on the company’s routers that provides for a second SSID signal separate from the customer’s own SSID, though uses the customer’s cable Internet connection to backhaul traffic.
“This additional access point provides Xfinity Internet subscribers with a Wi-Fi signal without the need to share a homeowner’s private network password,” Comcast notes. “This service is included at no additional charge.”
Comcast in mid-2013 announced the neighborhood initiative as part of its CableWifi plans that were announced in mid-2012. The cable provider has plans to offer up to 8 million hot spot locations, with many coming from tapping into customer Wi-Fi modems.
SFGate noted that the lawsuit claims “tests showed that under heavy use, the secondary channel adds 30% to 40% more costs to a customer’s electricity bill than the modem itself,” and “the data and information on a Comcast customer’s network is at greater risk” because the hot spot network “allows strangers to connect to the Internet through the same wireless router used by Comcast customers.”
The lawsuit is reportedly seeking unspecified damages as well as class-action status.
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