Which, on the one hand, is nice and convenient for them, but on the other hand means that they're sending out units with documentation and references for services you're not actually subscribing to. So we went through a small panic about seeing a modem configured for Xfinity voice, and Margie spend about thirty minutes of telephone menu tree hell trying to get to a live voice who would confirm to us that, no, we weren't being involuntarily subscribed to Xfinity VOIP for our voice service (because, really, we don't want to).
It also means that we're ended up with a new modem/wireless router that takes up about four times the volume of the previous cable modem — which, in our current niche for this technology is a huge issue.
I eventually got it all set up, figured out how to change the SSID and password to something more manageable, and, since it's wireless, we now have extra wireless capacity in the house (since the old wireless router is hooked up to it). Aside from that added capability (not that important), the new modem doesn't really give us much, though it at least helped keep me out of idle-hands trouble on a Friday evening.
On the somewhat more annoying level, the damn thing keeps blinking on the phone line indicator, trying to activate a service that doesn;t exist. I may have to get a piece of tape for that …
About the XFINITY Wireless Gateway 1
Learn more about the XFINITY Wireless Gateway 1.
I’ve considered getting a Motorola modem/router to use with Comcast. No problems plugging your old router into the new unit? How did you configure them?
I’m assuming:
1-both old & new wireless are 2.4 GHz
2- old router plugged into one of the LAN ports of the new one
3- no WAN port on the new combo unit
@paintedjaguar – No, no problem — the cable I previously had from the old Netgear router back to the old cable modem Comcast had provided worked just fine plugging into the new cable modem / router. Both are WiFi unit with different SSIDs, and so far seem to be working okay.
Actually, and coincidentally, I’d been having problems with my computer hooked to the old WiFi network. I hooked into the new one, and it’s been working like a champ — except when we went to play a LAN game here at home tonight, and couldn’t stay connected going back to the old WiFi.
Are you sure it's not watching you?
Well, there's no obvious camera …
It's also probably sending out "free" xfinity Wi-Fi so their registered customers can surf the internet over your cable modem using your available bandwidth.
You pay the power costs, they get to say they have a large Wi-Fi footprint…
He's going to pay the power costs either way and as long as the other's usage doesn't go against his bandwidth cap he should be fine. It sounds like the same sort of modem I have with AT&T U-Verse which is also an all-in-one doohickey. We use it for IPTV and Internet, but we don't have VoIP service and ours is smart enough to know that. At this point AT&T isn't doing the wi-fi sharing that Comcast has been experimenting with.
The camera is in your new TV, silly. Between that, your laptop, your tablet and your phone, they’ve got you covered.
Living in the burbs, the WiFi sharing is much less an issue — plus there's a password (which I've changed) that keeps the riffraff out. 🙂
The blinking light for the telephone is annoying, but we have it covered nicely.