Comcast Turns Adds Public WiFi onto Existing Xfinity Internet Connections

On Monday, Comcast announced plans to dramatically expanded their WiFi service to its customers by doubling up their Xfinity Internet customers' Internet access. They have announced that each Xfinity Internet residential customer will be broadcasting a public WiFi signal at no additional cost to give Xfinity Internet customers on the go millions of new WiFi access points to choose from. While this does not mean more Internet per household, it will not cost residential customers extra, and is a separate WiFi signal, so residential customers can keep their private WiFi private.

To accomplish this, Comcast will be rolling out new versions of their Wireless Gateways, which broadcast two WiFi signals simultaneously. One will be the securely configured, private gateway for Xfinity Internet users, while the second will be labeled "xfinitywifi" and broadcast throughout the full range of the signal. Xfinity Internet customers will be able to log into the second WiFi hotspot with their usernames and passwords, and non-customers can be granted guest access.

With nearly 20 million customers, this will dramatically increase the amount of available signal that on-the-go Xfinity users can pick up, and because they'll be in residential areas, it will be more accessible away from large cities and centers of commerce.

"WiFi is at the center of our strategy to offer our customers the best online experience, whether it's the fastest WiFi experience in the home, or a fast and reliable WiFi environment outside the home," said Senior Vice President of Business Development of Comcast, Tom Nagel in a statement. "WiFi is an important part of our strategy to be the place where customers connect all devices, anywhere and at any time."

Comcast has already tried these neighborhood hotspot initiative in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Northern Virginia and parts of the Washington, D.C. metro area, counting more than 100,000 Xfinity Internet subscribers who are using the service already.

This is certainly a novel way to increase the number and ubiquity of WiFi access points for subscribers, though we'll see if any data security issues — for either residential customers or on-the-go users — crop up as this rolls across Xfinity's subscriber base.

What do you think about this method of expanding Internet coverage? Innovative or problematic? Tell us in the comments section below.