[conductr]

I’m a layman but have asked this question somewhere once after noticing my “never connected TV” knew who was playing in a sports game it was promoting to me (basically it knew current events that only could have came from an internet connection of some sorts as it was months after its manufacture.) Apparently there a few avenues to consider, probably more than this actually. But this is what I’ve seen discussed so maybe do some more research or perhaps maybe someone will chime in.

For starters, where do you think your router was manufactured? Can you trust it to only allow connections with your WiFi credentials?

Beyond that, there’s a broad range of products and manufacturers in an average house. Assuming none have struck a deal to do a credential-less connection with the router itself, they may be talking to each other, basically asking “do you know the WiFi?” To every device in your home. Then, they share the info with each other even though you haven’t granted it.

One of the comments in my past discussion on this topic noted that he didn’t even have his Wi-Fi setup, had just moved in to a new apartment, yet apparently his TV was knowledgeable about something similar. I don’t remember how he knew/found out but he suggested that it discovered his neighbors TV which was the same manufacturer and his neighbor did have it connected to their WiFi so the commentor’s TV leveraged the neighbors WiFi without being provided the credentials by a human.