Business Wi-Fi

Hi Oraweb,

   Quite interesting I didn't know this was out there.

   Let me try to answer this somewhat reasonably I hope.  I'm going to ASSUME that you HAVE a business account since you say the option to turn this off does not appear in your account screen.  Xfinity (residential) accounts have this option, business accounts don't.  I'm ALSO going to ASSUME that you DO NOT have a monthly charge on your bill for a comcast-provided modem.  If you DO and you have their modem in a closet because you like your router better - then you need to take that up with customer service, return their modem and get your account corrected so your not being charged anymore.

  Businesses in the United States are considered public entities and have NO EXPECTATION OF IDENTIFICATION PRIVACY.

  If you have purchased a business account with Comcast you're identifying yourself as a business to them.  Therefore they have the right to publish your name and address.  Why do they have this right?  Because your a business, and businesses in the United States are considered public entities and have NO EXPECTATION OF IDENTIFICATION PRIVACY.  ok ok yah yah I get it, I hear you say.

  Every business in any state must register with that state - you are in violation of the law if your operating a business and you don't do this - and when you register you are legally stating your a pubic entity and you must suppy a name and address.

  If I as random-joe-customer buy ANYTHING from ANY business I have the right to publish the identifying information to ANY forum.  You cannot even force me to sign a contract denying me this right because it would be an invalid contract clause.

  If you DON'T like it - then simply don't identify as a business and take your chances with the IRS or other state taxing bodies finding you and penalizing you for operating an unlicensed business.

  Now as I see it, you have to contact Comcast and make the following assertion:

1) You're a residential user who is wrongly zoned by them as a business.  In which case you are entitled to a rezoning and your entiled to buy an Xfinity residential account.  (costs a LOT less money!!!)

or

2) You're a residential user who was forced to buy a business account because you needed a feature like; a static IP that is only available to business customers.  Comcast has a little slot for people like that, I am one of them in fact.  And accounts in that slot do not get listed on the map.

However, you are running your own modem.  Comcast does not permit static IP addresses on customer-owned modems.  I can therefore deduce that IF your running your own modem you DO NOT have a static IP.  And I can assume that you have NO NEED for a business account in that case - in which case you need to contact Comcast and chance your business account to a residential account and see #1

Let me just say that you have a snowball's chance in Hell of either of those working if any of the following are true:

a) you pay with a business account

b) you are a business

c) you transact business at your address

d) Google maps identifies your address as a business

3) You have only ONE option available to you if you are, indeed, a bona-fied business.

You can threaten to sue Comcast for libel.  On what basis?  On the basis that as a) you ARE a business and b) you are NOT offering wifi, and that them stating that you ARE offering wifi is a published false statement that is damaging to your reputation.  (because, customers show up at your business expecting free wifi and they don't get it)

BUT

Comcast could EASILY get around this by simply marking your address on their map as "possible/untested wifi" or something of that nature.  Yeah, I know, I'm thinking like a dam lawyer.  In looking at their map NOW I see no such listing.  My guess is if ever a suit like this was filed the map would be changed proto.

In summary:

If your a bona-fied business, are registered, have a taxID for a business from the feds, blah blah - then DON'T expect any sympathy.  Hey, you're DEDUCTING the cost of your Comcast account off your taxes - your getting Internet paid for free by the business - did you think there are zero strings attached?  There IS NO SYMPATHY for businesses who don't like being identified on the Internet.  I can link to dozens of posts from people who are running businesses and are livid that they have to identify with real street addressing information with ARIN's SWIPS.

The concept that businesses can attach to the Internet in an anonymous way and use Internet resources anonymously has NEVER been a part of ANY body of law covering the Internet - and as time has passed the global Internet governing bodies have become outright inimical to the concept.  The current "deal" that has been cut - at a global level - is residential/private people are only allowed anonymity on the Internet because retail ISPs can identify to a LEO where the physical location of whatever device is that has made an access is.  Lots of people have been caught doing illegal stuff because a library or coffee shop or other "free wifi provider" helped LEO setup a sting.

So, be warned.  Don't expect sympathy if your really a business.

But if your a residential user - PARTICULARLY if your using YOUR OWN MODEM - then you have NO TECHNICAL OR OTHERWISE LOGICAL REASON to have a business comcast account - why on Earth would you pay MORE MONEY for the SAME CONNECTIVITY?  In that case, get an Xfinity account, login to it, and delete the listing.  Then pay less money for the same access your getting now.

Wow, that was a very, very detailed response. Let me clear up some of your assumptions.

1. I am a residential user of a Comcast Business account

2. I currently use my own modem

3. I do not use a static IP address

I, like you, was forced into getting a business account. Not because I needed a static IP, but because of the residential Internet data caps in my market. We were using so much data, that it was more cost effective to pay for a business account than to pay the data cap overage fees. 

I used to have a Comcast provided modem, but I dropped it after a few months to save the extra $15 bucks a month. I no longer pay for the modem. I returned it to the retail store and the charge is no longer on my bill. I have Wifi on my personal modem, but I don't broadcast the SIDs, and I don't have any guest networks setup.

If someone were to park next to my house and try to get on the "xfinitywifi" network, they will be disappointed as it does not exist, hence it should not be on their map of free Wifi hot spots. 

It should be removed, but nobody I've talked to cat Comcast can figure out how to remove it.

1) Yes, when I switched, I contacted support, gave them the make and model and the MAC address of the new modem. Took 10 minutes, went very smoothly.

2) Yes, the modem I have is on the compatibility list

3) No. The modem is a brand new, top of the line retail modem.

I believe my original ticket is already escalated to Tier 2.

Maybe it is just a matter of time before it falls off the map. I'm not counting on it though.

Sounds like my guess that their map-populating logic is to blame, then.

Since your modem is on the HCL Comcast's bootfile is going to know that your modem is a wifi modem.

So obvioulsy what their map populating logic is doing is iterating through all business customers and anyone with an account that shows a wifi-enabled modem and without an opt-out in their account gets put on the map.  Regardless of whether the modem is owned by them or not.  Comcast probably assumes all business customers are renting.