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by windexh8er 4098 days ago
Having worked with deployment of these networks (DOCCIS 3) for a Comcast subsidiary I can tell you this is not true. If you have 10Mb the non-guest network is prioritized. But you cannot use more than 10Mbit between the two. As stated, the author has doubled nothing.
4 comments

From the XFINITY WiFi FAQ[1]:

> Does the new Home Hotspot impact my Internet speeds or data usage?

> The broadband connection to your home will be unaffected by the new feature.

Doesn't sound consistent with the prioritization claim since prioritization still implies the speed may be affected by the guest network. If you're right, then that's kind of a bold (misleading) thing for Comcast to say in their FAQ.

If the author is doing this by using the neighbor's WiFi (as mentioned in some other comments), then I don't see how this has anything to do with XFINITY WiFi specifically, or any loopholes - stealing bandwidth from a neighbor could be done (in theory) with any open/accessible WiFi connection of a neighbor.

[1] https://wifi.comcast.com/faqs.php

You can if you use the neighbor's guest connection.
The author doesn't implicitly state this, only that his neighbor also has it. You're still failing to understand that a $50 SOHO router has a cheap transceiver and getting to your neighbors guest network is far more latent and prone to dropped packets and errors due to the distance. Also the embedded transceiver in the cable modem is competing with a lot of local RF from the cable modem.

Again, he's not doubling his bandwidth based on the above and a whole host of other reasons beyond these.

For those who try I'd say post true bandwitdh and latency test comparisons using multiple sessions that are shown using both links. Its actually pretty funny to me, having been in network engineering for well over a decade, that people are so passionate that they're sticking it to Comcast and "doubling" bandwidth with nothing to back it up. But, whatever floats your boat.

If you read carefully, I wrote "You can", not "(S)he has"; I was saying you can use more than 10Mbit, not that the bandwidth has doubled.
He is using the neighbor's guest hotspot not his own.
Considering that comcast sells up 505 Mbit/s connections your 10Mb claim is demonstrably false.

DOCSIS (not DOCCIS) can do a Gb/s, and that's just to one modem, not the neighborhood as a whole.