r/technology • u/Tech-100 • Aug 18 '26

Networking/Telecom Comcast is turning millions of its routers into motion detectors

https://www.theverge.com/news/981381/comcast-xfinity-shield-wifi-motion-sensing
3.6k Upvotes

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13

u/PDXDemSocialist Aug 18 '26

You can buy your own. So you dont have this crap.

8

u/robotcoke Aug 18 '26

You can buy your own. So you dont have this crap.

For now. It's only a matter of time before the Comcast modem is required on the Comcast service. And you can bet the router will be built into it.

-4

u/TheOgGhadTurner Aug 18 '26

I’m sure there’s a law to prevent that and they’d be sued immediately if they tried.

8

u/joelandren Aug 18 '26

Are you new here?

6

u/szopongebob Aug 18 '26

Didn’t the MAGA admin ban foreign routers recently?

4

u/TheOgGhadTurner Aug 18 '26

Man probably. But MAGA can make my balls great again. Their bans have as much value as my unpolished turds.

1

u/Spirited_Childhood34 Aug 18 '26

If it's considered the collection of biometric data of parties who have not consented then it's of doubtful legality.

1

u/TheOgGhadTurner Aug 18 '26

I have certainly not consented lol

1

u/robotcoke Aug 18 '26

I’m sure there’s a law to prevent that and they’d be sued immediately if they tried.

Lol, no, they already require their router to be plugged into their modem on the accounts we have with them (my job has Comcast at several locations). We have our firewall plugged into their router, it's the only way to get the static IP to work.

2

u/TheOgGhadTurner Aug 18 '26

I have Xfinity and the website explicitly says you can use your own.

2

u/robotcoke Aug 18 '26

I have Xfinity and the website explicitly says you can use your own.

You can plug your own into theirs, as I stated. We have a firewall connected to their router, with a switch and wireless APs connected.

The static IP doesn't work correctly without their router.

I don't care what the xfinity website says. I'm telling you this as someone who has Comcast business service at roughly 30 locations in various states.

1

u/TheOgGhadTurner Aug 18 '26

Personally I don’t use static ip I let it auto configure. And as far as my privacy is concerned I don’t want a static IP for my devices.

3

u/robotcoke Aug 18 '26

Personally I don’t use static ip I let it auto configure. And as far as my privacy is concerned I don’t want a static IP for my devices.

Good for you? Lol

Most businesses need a static IP. And they already know what I'm talking about here.

Anyone who thinks "they've been doing this to high paying business users for a long time, but they'd NEVER do it to us low paying home users..." is a moron.

0

u/TheOgGhadTurner Aug 18 '26

There’s no expectation of privacy in public. If a service is free you are the product. And most businesses aren’t going to fuss with their network they’ll leave that to the Internet company. At home static ip is not really necessary. Regardless there’s always a work around. You just gotta dig deep enough.

3

u/robotcoke Aug 18 '26

There’s no expectation of privacy in public. If a service is free you are the product. And most businesses aren’t going to fuss with their network they’ll leave that to the Internet company. At home static ip is not really necessary. Regardless there’s always a work around. You just gotta dig deep enough.

Please just shut up.

Everyone, ignore this bot. If it's a real person, which I highly doubt, then he's a moron.

Most businesses absolutely DO "fuss with their network" and actually pay people to do that for them.

And yes, the business absolutely does have an expectation of privacy. They can actually get in a lot of trouble for not properly securing customer data.

The service is not free. A business account costs significantly more than a home account. And they've been requiring their router to be connected to their modem on at least some business accounts for a while now. You can plug your own router into theirs, but you can't remove their router without it causing problems.

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1

u/TheOgGhadTurner Aug 18 '26

But regardless their equipment is what’s detecting motion. If it’s connected it can potentially detect. No matter what’s connected to it.

2

u/No_no_eyes Aug 18 '26

They throttle the max speed you're paying for if you don't use theirs 

1

u/PDXDemSocialist Aug 18 '26

Well, that is false. I have one and no reduction. Now, if you buy a modem that isn't up to the speed your Internet is rated for, then yes. Same with your router and the cables you use.

2

u/No_no_eyes Aug 18 '26

Well, it's not false. Possibly different areas have different policies , but in my area that's how it works. The third party modem I had was docsis 3.1 which I believe is still the current standard, and the various Comcast reps I talked to said with the gigabit line, their propriety modem is required to get full speeds. Possibly because it's coaxial not true fiber. They call it fiber over coaxial , hybrid fiber coaxial 

1

u/PDXDemSocialist Aug 18 '26

Yes, the modem is that powerful. Is your Ethernet cable gigabit? Also, what type of router/ wireless or router and access point do you have?

1

u/BubbleMayhem Aug 19 '26

Same thing happened to me :/

1

u/BubbleMayhem Aug 19 '26

I swear they throttle you if you do.