[wtallis]

Aren't those SSIDs all on the same WiFi channel? Having split guest/internal networks broadcast from the same radio on the same channel really doesn't hurt things enough to care about. And it's almost certainly using separate DOCSIS channels or not counting toward the traffic shaping limit on your traffic, and it's prioritized lower than your business-class traffic when it's further upstream in TWC's network, so you don't need to worry about it affecting your WAN connection performance either.

[uxp]

The fact that the telco/cableco broadcasts a public or subscriber wifi off an installed business class service line is more WTF than potentially misconfigured broadcast channels. This is partially why I bought a SB6141 for my home. It has no radio. Maybe I need to go shave my neck, but I'd rather have a device that does one thing well than one thing that tries to do everything adequately.

[wtallis]

Given that the business is merely renting the modem/router/AP device from the ISP, the only theoretical downside to the business is the extra electricity used by that functionality. And for quite a few businesses, the zero-effort zero-liability hotspot for customers is a pretty big upside.

If you want thorough control over your network, then of course you won't rent a modem from the ISP and you'll install a separate router of your choice and decide for yourself whether to operate a hotspot. But for the majority of customers, none of that is worth thinking about and the ISPs are actually providing sensible defaults.