{"id":7070,"date":"2014-12-11T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2014-12-11T15:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=7070"},"modified":"2014-12-11T10:00:55","modified_gmt":"2014-12-11T15:00:55","slug":"comcast-slapped-with-class-action-lawsuit-for-turning-customers-routers-into-public-hotspots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/12\/11\/comcast-slapped-with-class-action-lawsuit-for-turning-customers-routers-into-public-hotspots\/","title":{"rendered":"Comcast slapped with class-action lawsuit for turning customers’ routers into public hotspots"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Comcast\u2019s controversial decision to transform its customers\u2019 wireless routers into public Wi-Fi hotspots has, predictably, landed the company in even more hot water.<\/p>\n

A pair of disgruntled customers recently filed a class-action lawsuit against the cable, television and Internet provider in San Francisco. Toyer Grear and Joycelyn Harris claim Comcast is exploiting them (and other Comcast subscribers) for profit by forcing customers\u2019 residential routers to serve double-duty as public hotspots without their consent and at their expense.<\/p>\n

On newer routers leased to customers by Comcast, the company has been adding a secondary Internet broadcast channel for hotspot use. This additional channel is said to be separate from customers\u2019 primary connection. Those that provide their own hardware aren\u2019t affected.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the suit, a test performed by networking technology company Speedify found that routers activated as public hotspots consume 30 to 40 percent more electricity under heavy load.<\/p>\n

Over time, Speedify believes this practice will eventually push tens of millions of dollars per month of the electricity bill needed to run the Comcast\u2019s public Wi-Fi network onto consumers.<\/p>\n

The two also believe that subjecting customers\u2019 Internet connections to public use is a detriment to security. What\u2019s more, they claim to be suffering from decreased, inadequate speeds on their home Wi-Fi networks ever since the second channel was activated.<\/p>\n

The suit seeks an injunction to stop Comcast from using the routers in this way in addition to unspecified damages.<\/p>\n

via Comcast slapped with class-action lawsuit for turning customers’ routers into public hotspots – TechSpot<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comcast\u2019s controversial decision to transform its customers\u2019 wireless routers into public Wi-Fi hotspots has, predictably, landed the company in even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[210,604,1204],"class_list":["post-7070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking","category-technology","tag-comcast","tag-lawsuit","tag-wi-fi"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1Q2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9343,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/05\/27\/this-week-in-tech-668-how-many-cups-in-a-stone\/","url_meta":{"origin":7070,"position":0},"title":"This Week in Tech 668: How Many Cups in a Stone?","author":"NCCT","date":"May 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/i1oqaFyVcQ0 --The FBI wants you to reboot your router right now. 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