COMCAST Info

[USMC88-93]

My reliable D-Link 802.11gn router suddenly started having problems with dropouts a month or two ago.

If those drop outs were also occurring on a wired connection meaning a computer accessing the internet via Ethernet off the device and occurring on wireless than the problem is more likely to be the modem or a signal issue into the home. If your problem was only wireless with bad connectivity and your wired connection was fine than the issue is more likely to be a wireless issue with your router. Though as always there are 10,000 possible solutions to any one problem the issue is figuring out the 1 in 10,000 possibility and fixing it

[Skip]

From what I have read, they will push firmware and turn it back on. I hope that is not true. Thanks for your inputs.

For the whole time I've had this new Motorola combo modem/router it has remained off. The WiFi light on the front is off. It sits ~5 feet from my desktop. The only strong WiFi I have is my router (which has it's own SSID). I do check every so often just to make sure.

[00tec]

There is no customer access to disable public WiFi from the modem. Has to be done from your online account. Even if I were to login to your modem and turn it off with admin access, the online account setting supercedes it.

[Skywalker]

Wasn't a rant. Just info. Always can tell the COMCAST reps. After 27 years of IT and lead IT for the USAF....... this is a security concern. If folks don't understand what they read then don't worry about it. Just some of us will and I see a few of you do already. Lot of reading for sure, but all the "this is normal and it's fine is covered in the very lengthy link". My setup is my own equipment. Their firmware pushes is maintenance broadcast or firmware pushes. Either trying to kill my owned cable modem or just not configured to push to their equipment only. My three routers work in conjunction with my server and are secured...... but then nothing is really secured.

[00tec]

Explain "security concern"

[cfortune]

Explain "security concern"

That's kind of where I'm at. I run my own equipment because I choose to have control over it. Guest networks are often a security concern if proper controls aren't in place to deny traffic to your LAN or sniffing on the outgoing WAN interface (then again, why would you be sending information that you care about to the internet without encryption?). I'm guessing Comcast has covered their asses with this. It's probably isolated to its own L2/L3 domain with its own NAT rules in place. That way someone using your public hot spot doesn't get you in trouble for torrents, DDoS, etc.

Would I sign up for it? No. Not because I'd be worried about intrusion but because I don't want to share my bandwidth with strangers. I'd like to think your service is over provisioned in the event you participate and QoS is preventing you from losing any of the bandwidth you're "subscribed" to. I can't say for sure though. Fire it up with some iperf running and find out.

I don't work for Comcast but I understand the technology enough to understand how they could do it in a safe, non intrusive manner.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Explain "security concern"

A wifi connection exists that we have no control over exists through a piece of equipment which is intimately tied to our own home network and numerous devices that probably have PII and other sensitive information. Are you ABSOLUTELY certain there's no way for someone to tunnel in from the public to the private network? Willing to indemnify every single Comcast customer for potential losses from such an event?

When it was a non-broadcasting cable modem, I and only I determined access from the modem to my equipment. I can't say that now -- if you don't think that's a security concern, I have some ocean front property in Arizona I'd like to talk to you about ...

[Skywalker]

Exactly. pg2............ http://www.computerworld.com/article/2476444/mobile-security-comcast-xfinity-wifi-just-say-no.html

A wifi connection exists that we have no control over exists through a piece of equipment which is intimately tied to our own home network and numerous devices that probably have PII and other sensitive information. Are you ABSOLUTELY certain there's no way for someone to tunnel in from the public to the private network? Willing to indemnify every single Comcast customer for potential losses from such an event?

When it was a non-broadcasting cable modem, I and only I determined access from the modem to my equipment. I can't say that now -- if you don't think that's a security concern, I have some ocean front property in Arizona I'd like to talk to you about ...

[USMC88-93]

I guess my only reply is those with that kind of deeply held concern are better served by purchasing their own modem and router as the only thing that the cable company would then have control of is the boot file on the router to place the device in the correct speed tier for the account.

I am not here to defend Comcast nor do I want to color them anything other than the giant corporate entity they are, I am just suggesting that there is nothing sinister in their motives. And those smart enough the realize on some root base level there might be some security concern are also those that protect themselves from those concerns. (purchase, set up, and maintain their own devices and access to them).

[Skip]

I was more concerned with activity being related to my IP than anything else. Yes, Comcast says they differentiate devices/users but I don't trust that and have no log of users.