Comcast raises customers' electric bills by turning router into a public hotspot - Polidicks

[quote=Ars Technica] Since last year, Comcast's wireless gateways have by default broadcast a second signal that turns each customer's modem and router into a public Wi-Fi hotspot. It's all part of Comcast's plan to create a nationwide Wi-Fi network of more than 1 million hotspots that the cable company can sell access to. Comcast deflected criticism by arguing that the hotspot's bandwidth is separate from the bandwidth subscribers pay for, so it won't reduce the customer's Internet speeds. But what about electricity? Alex Gizis, CEO of Speedify, which makes software that bonds Internet connections to combine bandwidth, decided to investigate. "As a bandwidth-obsessed engineer, I wanted to understand exactly what Comcast is doing here," he wrote last week. "Despite their claims that these routers cost subscribers nothing extra, we actually measured the power consumption on the router they sent us and were surprised by the results." Unlike the guest networks that Internet customers set up for visitors, for which the homeowner can choose a password, the Comcast hotspots can be logged into by anyone with a Comcast subscription or anyone who buys temporary Wi-Fi access passes from Comcast. That means random people passing by your home could use the hotspot to get on the Internet. To test the effect of people using the hotspot, Gizis plugged the Comcast modem and router into a power strip that was being monitored by a "Kill A Watt" meter. After testing the devices while idle, "we then connected two Windows laptops to the Xfinity hotspot, one watching Netflix and the other downloading files," he wrote. "You could immediately see the difference in the power meter, as the devices jumped from 0.14 Amps when idle, up to 0.22 Amps when actually being used. To translate this into dollars and cents, we used the average cost of power here in the Mid-Atlantic, which is $0.162 per KWh." To disable the hotspot on an Xfinity gateway, Comcast customers can log in to their account, navigate to Users & Preferences, and then click on "Manage Xfinity WiFi." They can also call customer service directly. Comcast spokesperson Joel Shadle told Ars that the Speedify test relied on Comcast's business equipment, rather than the equipment that's used for the residential hotspot program, and that the equipment was outdated. "There shouldn't be any discernable difference in the amount of electricity you're using because your router is already plugged in to do your own wireless in your home," Shadle said. Any extra amount of electricity usage "would be nominal at most," he said. While it's possible people could use the hotspot from outside a subscriber's home, "the signal doesn't really stretch too far... it's not like the signal stretches all the way out to the street," Shadle said. Speedify added a note to its blog post, saying, "Comcast has reached out and indicated that they would like us to retest with newer equipment. We’ll update our results as soon as we receive this new hardware."[/quote] [url=http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/06/comcast-raises-your-electric-bill-by-turning-router-into-a-public-hotspot/]Source[/url].

Bet the new equipment will be 'optimized' for higher IDLE power draw. :v:

What's so fucking funny and stupid about this is the hotspot doesn't effect your own internet speeds or data caps. This basically means they have the capacity to upgrade speeds of their customers but they rather make a dollar. Comcast... fucking customers everywhere. [sp]I didn't bother to read the article because I read a similar own about a month or two ago.[/sp]

Meanwhile, my 1000 watt computer is sucking up so much power it raises the monthly billy by 20 bucks a month, and the A/C unit I have in my window...another 15. some other stuff in my room... another 10. So that's 45 bucks a month spent just in electricity just in my room, I doubt this will make a noitceable mark on anyones bill.

Meh... It's not thaaaat big of a deal. Plus it even says in the article that you can disable it if you want. How much does this cost a person over a month in the worst case?

[QUOTE=ultra_bright;45260867]Meanwhile, my 1000 watt computer is sucking up so much power it raises the monthly billy by 20 bucks a month, and the A/C unit I have in my window...another 15. some other stuff in my room... another 10. So that's 45 bucks a month spent just in electricity just in my room, I doubt this will make a noitceable mark on anyones bill.[/QUOTE] Why the fuck would anyone ever need a 1000W PSU

[QUOTE=Duck M.;45260884]Why the fuck would anyone ever need a 1000W PSU[/QUOTE] I have a GTX 770 in my HAF X case right now, I plan on slapping another one in there sometime soon.

By some rough calcs, using the numbers in the article this feature uses .23 kWh per day. At 16 cents per KWh this system costs the customer about a dollar per month. That's a small price to pay for (what will eventually be) city wide wi-fi. Seriously your choice comes down to: 1. $50/month 2. $51/month + city wide wi-fi And you can even turn the feature [B]off[/B]. Is this really something we're gonna bitch about? I feel like the only reason this gets so much hate is because Comcast is fronting it. If google pulled this people would be defending them left and right.

If they found a way for it to not use so much power this would actually be great. Public Wifi everywhere if they had enough customers (shame its from a sucky ISP :v: )

haha fuck you comcast TDS lady just came by today telling us they're running fiber optics throughout my side of the town fuck yooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuu

The real question: Do you actually use Comcast routers/modems?

[QUOTE=Duck M.;45260884]Why the fuck would anyone ever need a 1000W PSU[/QUOTE] If you SLI cards it can easily break 800-900. Many of the higher end cards can pull over 300 per card. Then factor in 100-250 watts for the CPU + Mobo depending on your type of CPU and overclocking. Then you factor in up to 20 watts per hard drive, same for optical drives. Then you add in extra fans/pumps/lights/anything else, and someone with a high end rig and a single graphics card can easily break 550-600 watts. Then there are people like dai that have 4+ titans because they need the power. Render boxes can easily get into the 2000 watt range, though that's getting into a pretty niche market.

[QUOTE=ultra_bright;45260892]I have a GTX 770 in my HAF X case right now, I plan on slapping another one in there sometime soon.[/QUOTE] That pc is going to idle at around 50-70 and not go above 300-500 under full load. Having a 1000w psu doesn't mean your pc draws 1000w, that would be an absurd amount of power.

[QUOTE=Code3Response;45260951]The real question: Do you actually use Comcast routers/modems?[/QUOTE] People who don't know any better do. They pay the 5 dollars a month lease on the Modem and are unaware that they can just buy one for 80. Then again, for the technically illiterate, if it fails, Comcast will give you a new one without questions.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;45260974]That pc is going to idle at around 50-70 and not go above 300-500 under full load. Having a 1000w psu doesn't mean your pc draws 1000w, that would be an absurd amount of power.[/QUOTE] But....but bigger is better :(

meh I just got the most basic modem and bought a powerful router and flashed it with dd-wrt I guess a decent tradeoff would be that you could use any of the other hotspots in exchange, but I don't want some asshole slowing down my network torrenting game of thrones in 1080p

[QUOTE=Aide;45260861]What's so fucking funny and stupid about this is the hotspot doesn't effect your own internet speeds or data caps. This basically means they have the capacity to upgrade speeds of their customers but they rather make a dollar. Comcast... fucking customers everywhere. [sp]I didn't bother to read the article because I read a similar own about a month or two ago.[/sp][/QUOTE] Maybe Comcast does it differently, but sounds pretty much the same as Ziggo is doing here. We have a similar system with an internetprovider here (Ziggo), and it's actually a good thing. As a Ziggo user, you pretty much have wireless internet anywhere, as long as there's a Ziggo user in the area. The hotspot doesn't affect your internet speed because it only uses bandwidth that's not being used. When you start using the internet yourself, it limits the bandwidth available for the hotspot. Also, whining about electricity for a device that's pretty much always active anyway sounds pretty dumb.

UPC over here did the same thing a couple of weeks ago, it's pretty awesome, I can't complain about (almost) city wide wi-fi that I don't have to pay extra for. and I use my own router so I'm not affected by the marginally higher power draw either

I'd imagine they have an account system, so who ever logged in with that account will get into trouble.

[QUOTE=FunnyBunny;45260894]By some rough calcs, using the numbers in the article this feature uses .23 kWh per day. At 16 cents per KWh this system costs the customer about a dollar per month. That's a small price to pay for (what will eventually be) city wide wi-fi. Seriously your choice comes down to: 1. $50/month 2. $51/month + city wide wi-fi And you can even turn the feature [B]off[/B]. Is this really something we're gonna bitch about? I feel like the only reason this gets so much hate is because Comcast is fronting it. If google pulled this people would be defending them left and right.[/QUOTE] I think the problem is that the program is opt-out instead of opt-in, and with no warning or incentives regarding joining. You're just publicly broadcasting internet for free, for comcast, without any warning from them.

lol, this should be opt in on the principle of it, but it's really not a noteworthy amount of power. [QUOTE=ultra_bright;45260892]I have a GTX 770 in my HAF X case right now, I plan on slapping another one in there sometime soon.[/QUOTE] How's it hangin', Harry Enfield?

[QUOTE=ultra_bright;45260892]I have a GTX 770 in my HAF X case right now, I plan on slapping another one in there sometime soon.[/QUOTE] you don't need 1000w for that. not even two requires that

I wouldn't want this, mostly because of any potential security issues that could arise from this.

good thing that some people have routers that have a separate WiFi antenna, all they have to do is unscrew it

[QUOTE=EddieLTU;45263424]good thing that some people have routers that have a separate WiFi antenna, all they have to do is unscrew it[/QUOTE] They have company provided routers and modems.

I feel like the electricity is just an excuse to shit on Comcast. Everyone on the internet supposedly supports the concept of global WiFi.

[QUOTE=Starpluck;45263446]I feel like the electricity is just an excuse to shit on Comcast. Everyone on the internet supposedly supports the concept of global WiFi.[/QUOTE] The article even says that for a domestic wireless router, which is broadcasting anyways, that it makes zero difference in power consumption.

[QUOTE=No Party Hats;45260918]haha fuck you comcast TDS lady just came by today telling us they're running fiber optics throughout my side of the town fuck yooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuu[/QUOTE] Yes, go with TDS. I work there and they have the resources, support staff, everything, hell, they own U.S. Cellular. I love my fiber 100 mpbs.

[QUOTE=catbarf;45263585]The article even says that for a domestic wireless router, which is broadcasting anyways, that it makes zero difference in power consumption.[/QUOTE] Whatever hate for Comcast may be, advancing internet availability is social progress and should be encouraged.

[QUOTE=Starpluck;45263446]I feel like the electricity is just an excuse to shit on Comcast. Everyone on the internet supposedly supports the concept of global WiFi.[/QUOTE] You still need a comcast account to use it.