Permanently disable 'xfinitywifi' Cisco DCP 3939b

Comcast offers a public wifi using their customers' wifi as the hot spot. Ever notice a wifi nearby with great signal that needs no password to connect to? Well that is 'xfinity wifi'

This allows people like myself to sign into your wifi for free by logging in with my xfinity email and password at any location in the world I see anyones 'xfinitywifi'... including yours. The problem with this is that is slows down your internet if the person using the xfinitywifi is being a bandwidth hog because it quite literally is your internet...

It wouldnt be such a pain if I could disable this setting on my own, like xfinity residential customers can by signing into their modem settings as an admin. However, comcast has chosen to disable this setting in the modem settings page for business customers. A bit strange in my opinion considering my business account bill is easily three times that of a residential customer.

The icing on the cake, is that yes comcast will disable this if you just call and ask... the problem is that as soon as you have to power cycle (reboot, or unplug) your 3939b modem, 'xfinitywifi' automatically restores its settings and turns itself back on for both the 2.4 and 5.0 GHz channels.

So I ask you this comcast, please allow me to turn this off at my own will without needing to call you and also dont turn it back on when i restart my modem because we all know how often we have to do that!

Sincerely,

Disgruntled Customer

PS. While you're at it, allow me to disable AP Isolation because I can't use chromecast with this modem and it's hurting my business along with several other upset customers as is clearly shown in the multiple threads about the same issue! This is less than a 5 minute fix for both problems!

Responses

Accepted Solution

CC_John

Retired Employee

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1.9K Messages

10 years ago

Hi Techtronyx. XfinityWiFi has been disabled. Please let me know if additional assistance is needed.

Thank You

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Accepted Solution

CC_John

Retired Employee

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1.9K Messages

10 years ago

HI PatsFan. Xfinity WiFi has been disabled in the Comcast Gateway. Please let us know if additional changes are needed.

Thank You

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Accepted Solution

switz

New Member

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1 Message

10 years ago

I have called twice to turn it off and was told each time it was done. It is still on and I want it turned off. Hey John, can you take care of this for me? Thanks

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Techtronyx

New problem solver

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5 Messages

10 years ago

As clearly stated in the OP, despite you disabling this without my permission, it has turned itself back on and I havent even power cycled the modem once...

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tmittelstaedt

Problem solver

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326 Messages

10 years ago

fifty cents of aluminum foil wrapped around the wifi antenna will guarantee nobody is gonna get signal off the modem.

Anyway, the world is full of cable modems. If you renting one then call into Comcast and make them replace it with a non-wifi model, if it's your own modem then replace it with a non-wifi model.

And while we are on the subject I agree 100% that enabling the wifi is stupid - your just encouraging crackers to find free wifi to attach to, to do spam injections and attacks.

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Jay

Visitor

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1 Message

10 years ago

I just hopped on the Business bandwagon myself and it's been going well, aside from this exact same issue.

I've called in twice to get xfinitywifi disabled, and both times the technician did so. This is my third day with the service and it is again re-enabled.

Given that I need to use business wifi at my home this strikes me as a significant security risk: I don't care to broadcast a public wifi and have god knows who suddenly show up on a wardriving session hanging around outside my home.

If this can't be permanently disabled then this is something that needs to be made clearer with your sales team and product literature, because I've been being told at every turn that shutting it off for good is not an issue.

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PatsFan

New Contributor

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5 Messages

10 years ago

How can I disable the option without having to call into cust svc?

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train_wreck

Gold Problem solver

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610 Messages

10 years ago

@PatsFan wrote:
How can I disable the option without having to call into cust svc?

You can't. The gateways don't allow customers to access that feature at the moment. I really wish they did.

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PatsFan

New Contributor

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5 Messages

10 years ago

Thank you for following up, John. I called last night and had them do it.

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kc7gr

New problem solver

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16 Messages

10 years ago

Assuming the connectors for the wireless antenna(s) are the usual RP SMA (Reverse-polarity SMA), you can really put a kink in this silliness by unscrewing said antennas and replacing them with a couple of dummy loads. Such devices reduce effective wireless range to about a meter (if that). Search Ebay for the phrase 'rp sma dummy load' or 'rp sma load.' You'll get a blort-load of hits. Happy tweaking.

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train_wreck

Gold Problem solver

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610 Messages

10 years ago

@kc7gr wrote:
Assuming the connectors for the wireless antenna(s) are the usual RP SMA (Reverse-polarity SMA), you can really put a kink in this silliness by unscrewing said antennas and replacing them with a couple of dummy loads. Such devices reduce effective wireless range to about a meter (if that). Search Ebay for the phrase 'rp sma dummy load' or 'rp sma load.' You'll get a blort-load of hits. Happy tweaking.

They may be SMAs, but they are integrated into the device; they are not removable.

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Comcast_Jon

Administrator

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1.5K Messages

10 years ago

Post moved for better visibility.

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