Comcast is doing something different,
adding your router output as free WiFi to others passing by. It is
also an opt-out solution, which means it is enabled by default and
you need to turn it off. It also does not pay you for this use by
others.
Comcast is quietly turning on public hotspots in its customers’
routers and turning private homes into public hotspots. Other
Comcast customers get free Wi-Fi wherever there is a Comcast box and
the company gets to build out a private network to compete with
telecoms, but using your resources.
Fifty thousand users with basic modems that Comcast cable provides
have already been turned into public hotspots in Houston, and there
are plans to enable 150,000 more.
It is using your private residence as a corporate resource and using
your electricity, your Internet connection, and potentially opening
up your private browsing to hackers. Comcast says these two streams
are independent, but that has never stopped hackers. There is also
nothing to stop someone from downloading illicit material, software,
and other junk from your hotspot, implicating you if caught. Remember,
if there is a line out, that means there is also a line in. Caveat
Emptor Comcast users.