Comcast Uses Oro Valley Customer Wireless Units To Expand Comcast'e Network

If you are a Comcast internet user and you use a wi-fi unit, then you will want to read this.

Comcast has opened up access to your wireless device to anyone who has a Comcast user name and password.  They have done so without your permission.  They have done so without offering to offering to pay you for this use.

If you are a Comcast Internet user, you should have received a letter announcing an increase in the number of Wi-Fi hotspots for you to use. You simply look for "Xfinity WiFi" as an option when looking for a Wi-Fi hotspot.  If it is there, you can use it by using your comcast user name and password.

That sounds like a great idea.  Now you can access the internet from so many more places.

That sounds great until you learn that the way they are doing it is to allow people to use your router (the thingy that lets the Internet be wireless in your house), your neighbor's router, and any other Comcast internet user's router to access the internet.

To be real clear: Comcast is letting people use your wireless device without your permission.

We'll say it again:  Comcast is using a device that you most likely rent from them, a device which you have been advised to password protect at the highest security levels to prevent people from using it, to allow people to use the device.

How do they do it?

Comcast remotely installs a network called 'Xfinity Wi-Fi' on your router. They don't ask you if it is alright to install it. They just install it.

So, they are using a device that you most likely rent from them without letting you know and without compensated you for its use.  After all, having this "feature" installed in your router is of absolutely no benefit to you.

Now anyone with a Comcast username and password can use your device.

That is not the only problem however. Apparently, this new "feature" causes your device to lose its connectivity to the Internet from time to time. The only way to fix it is to unplug the device, wait 15 seconds, and then replug it. It will then regain its ability to communicate with the Internet, until, later that day, or perhaps the next day, it loses connectivity yet again.  Then you have to... well, you know the routine.

Want to fix the problem?

1. Call Comcast. 
2. Ask to speak to someone in their Wi-Fi department. 
3. Tell that person to remove this "Xfinity Wi Fi" network from your device. You want to "opt out" of this feature. 
4. They will do so immediately. 

 Problem solved!
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Your Comcast Franchise Fee-- A "Hidden Tax" You Pay Oro Valley

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We noticed a francise fee on our last Comcast bill.  Its been there for years.  We just never noticed it.  We asked our colleague, John Musolf, to research it and report on it for us.  Here's the result:
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The Town of Oro Valley receives approximately $500,000 in franchise fee revenue per year from the Comcast Cable Television Network.   This revenue is seen in the xxx fund in the town's budget.

The right to charge this goes back more than 30 years, when Jones Cable ran the system. The Comcast Cable Franchise agreement with Oro Valley was extended from March 19, 2013 to March 19, 2018 for 5 years.  It was signed by Greg Caton, Julie Bower, and Tobin Sidles.   We cannot find where it was reviewed by the Town Council!

The cable television franchise fee in the United States stems from a community's basic right to charge for use of the property it owns. The cable television franchise fees represent part of the compensation a community receives in exchange for the cable operator's occupation and the right-of-way use of public property. A franchise fee is not a tax; it is a rental charge.

Franchise fees are governed under Section 622 of the Cable Communications Act of 1984.

Section 622, states that municipalities are entitled to a maximum of 5% of gross revenues derived from the operation of the cable system for the provision of cable services such as public, educational, and government access (PEG) TV channels. There may be other increased revenue contractual specifications above the 5% such as fee payment based on subscriber volume.

If a citizen of Oro Valley is a subscriber to the Comcast Cable Television Network, they are probably unaware that they are helping Comcast provide some of the franchise revenue to the Town of Oro Valley. On the Comcast subscriber monthly invoice there is a franchise fee that a subscriber is paying to Comcast Company. This in turn is used by Comcast to help pay for the franchise fee to Oro Valley."
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Thanks for the research, John.  Call it what you may.  The franchise fee is a tax, one that at charged by Oro Valley to Comcast that, in turn, is charged to you.
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