Comcast 'Neighborhood Hotspot Initiative' Reaches Chicago

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 6, 2014 10:00PM

After months of testing in smaller markets, Comcast Corporation is launching a program in Chicago that could eventually turn entire city blocks into Wi-Fi hot spots by sending out a separate signal from the equipment currently in the homes of its customers.

Comcast began testing the “neighborhood hotspot initiative” last year by piggybacking an “xfinitywifi” network ID (SSID) on the routers of existing customers. Other customers can log onto the network with their credentials while non-customers can use the network as a guest with two free one-hour sessions a month; after that they could opt to continue using the service by subscribing to hourly, daily or weekly options.

The plan is particularly attractive to smartphone users being charged for extra data plan usage beyond their monthly plans as it would give them an attractive, roaming Wi-Fi signal to use, especially in a densely populated area like Chicago. It also gives Comcast, the nation’s largest Internet Service Provider with over 20 million households across the country, a leg up on competitors. Smartphone usage is expected to skyrocket in the next five years; according to Cisco, 64 percent of mobile data traffic will flow through Wi-Fi networks.

Furthermore, Comcast’s network could expand further if the company’s proposed $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable is approved. The merger would give Comcast a presence in 43 of the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan markets and access to one-third of the households in America capable of receiving Wi-Fi service.

The obvious question raised about the program is how Comcast will protect the private Wi-Fi networks of its home customers. Tom Nagel, who heads the program for Comcast, told the Tribune the company takes steps to ensure the signals are separate and that customers have the option to remove their routers from sharing the separate signal in their account settings.