Comcast said it is opening up Xfinity WiFi hotspots in Northern California to all-comers through this Friday (Oct. 13) to help residents and personnel stay connected amid wildfires in the region.

Ungated access throughout the Napa and Sonoma County areas is available on access points with the “xfinitywifi” SSID. Comcast internet subs can sign on with their regular credentials and stay connected on various hotspots.

Non-subs will need to pick the “xfinitywifi” network name from the list of available hotspots, launch a browser, and locate the “Not an XFINITY Internet Customer” section on the sign-in page to get started.

Comcast said it will cater to online bargain hunters by opening up access to its footprint of Xfinity WiFi public hotspots on “Cyber Monday.”

The MSO, which has deployed more than 15 million Xfinity WiFi hotspots in public and business locations and in home-side gateways, said it will provide free access to all, including non-Comcast subs, for a 24-hour period starting 6 a.m. ET Monday (Nov. 28).

Where WiFi access is available from Comcast, customers and non-subs alike will be able to log in by clicking the “xfinitywifi” network ID.

“Many bargain-hunters will be away from their homes, as they travel to and from work, running errands around town or visiting family and friends,” the MSO noted in this blog post. 

Following a preview at INTX in Boston, Comcast said it has begun to deploy a portable broadband platform, called Xfinity WiFi on Wheels, that was developed in partnership with Ericsson.

The platform, tailored to bring WiFi connectivity to venues such as concerts and festivals as well as emergency response situations, is a customized Ford T-350 van equipped with six Ericsson WiFi access points perched on a 40-foot tall mast.

“The Wi-Fi has a 500-foot range and can support up to 3,000 users, potentially reaching speeds five times faster than cellular,” Eric Schaefer, Comcast’s SVP of wireless product management, noted in this blog post.

He said Comcast conducted a practice run at the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia, noting that the platform provided users with access to WiFi speeds of more than 50 Mbps.

Comcast has since taken its act on the road, stopping by the New Haven Arts and Ideas  Festival in June, but have it back in Philadelphia in time for next week’s Democratic National Convention.

Ericsson noted earlier this year that the van specs include multiple network access connections, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) microwave backhaul, onboard backup power and modular deployment elements that enable Comcast to deploy and get them operational in a matter of minutes.

Here’s a video showing some of the early deployment activity:

Comcast said it is expanding its capabilities in the Twin Cities with a broader rollout of WiFi hotspots, enhancements to X1 and dollars to beef up the network serving area business customers.

On the WiFi front, Comcast said it is adding more than 1,400 public hotspots in “high-traffic” areas such as public parks and recreation areas, retail locations and transit stops. That deployment is slated to be completed by the end of 2016.

Comcast is also enhancing its X1 platform there with the addition of in-home streaming of the MSO’s pay TV service (including live TV and VOD) on tablets, smartphones and Web browsers and extending access to its cloud DVR product.  Comcast is also making Xfinity On Campus, its X1-powered product for universities adn colleges, available to partner schools in the Twin Cities.

Comcast Business, meanwhile, pledged to invest over the next two years up to $15 million in network expansions areas such as Eden Prairie, Oakdale, Brooklyn Park and to downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. Last year, the unit spent more than $3.2 million to expand fiber to area businesses.

About 700 Wawa stores in six states now provide free WiFi access thanks to a new partnership with Comcast’s business services unit.

Comcast Business said its Enterprise division installed the managed public/private WiFi network (along with managed broadband services) in those stores located in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, new Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. To gain free WiFi access and sidestep usage of the cellular network, Wawa customers at those locations will need to point their devices to the “xfinitywifi” SSID.

Notably, the scope of the agreement includes deployments in Wawa stores that are both in and out of Comcast’s traditional service footprint.

Update: Comcast confirmed that coverage outside its traditional footprint in the Wawa deal is coming way of its announcement last fall to focus on enterprise business customers in the Fortune 1000 and enable that in part through network agreements with other cable operators, a group that includes Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems.

Comcast Business in January announced the commercial launch of WiFi Pro, a cloud-controlled WiFi platform for small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise branch locations.

"This collaboration between Xfinity and Comcast Business to deliver an integrated, managed Wi-Fi service to Wawa, a respected mainstay in the Philadelphia business community, highlights the value we can deliver to customers across our high-growth businesses," said Bill Stemper, president of Comcast Business, in a statement. “As more enterprises look to improve the customer experience at their branch locations, fast and reliable Wi-Fi has become a cornerstone for attracting and retaining customers. Comcast has the services and expertise to enable a great Wi-Fi experience to all locations within a distributed enterprise whether it’s a retailer like Wawa, a bank, hotel or restaurant chain."

Separately, Comcast Business said it notched a deal to be the exclusive network services provider for Bethesda Green, a non-profit incubator for environmentally sustainable businesses in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Montgomery County, Md. The agreement included a 1 Gbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet line that’s capable of scaling up to 10 Gbps.

Comcast Business pulled in $1.25 billion in revenues in Q4 2015, up from $1.05 billion the year-ago quarter.  Comcast is scheduled to report Q1 2016 results on Wednesday (April 27) morning.

PATCO and Comcast said they’ve moved forward on a plan to bring fer free Xfinity WiFi service to all 13 PATCO stations in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

The expansion comes after the companies collaborated on a beta version of the service since last July. WiFi at the PATCO stations is available to both Comcast and non-Comcast customers.

“This partnership between PATCO and Comcast provides a tremendous new service to the thousands of riders who travel on PATCO every day,” PATCO GM John Rink said, in a statement.  “One of the biggest areas of improvement suggested by our riders has been creating better access to Wi-Fi hotspots in our stations, especially our subway facilities. Comcast has been an enthusiastic and supportive partner during the last several months of equipment upgrades and infrastructure enhancements in all 13 of our stations. This is an example of PATCO’s commitment to being responsive to our rider community.”

“Consumers want to be able to connect to the Internet wherever they are and continuing to expand our Xfinity WiFi network, the largest network in the country, is part of our strategy to help them do that,” added Cole Reinwand, VP, Xfinity WiFi for Comcast Cable. “We’re excited to offer free access to Xfinity WiFi service to help keep Philadelphia and New Jersey commuters connected as they travel through PATCO stations.”

Comcast has deployed more than 11 million WiFi access points in various outdoor and indoor public venues and business locations. 

Following recent deployment expansions  in areas such as its “Keystone” region, Comcast announced Monday that its WiFi network now spans more than 10 million quasi-public hotspots nationwide.

That’s up from the 8.6 million hotspots that the company said were deployed when Comcast discussed first quarter results in May.

Comcast hit the 10 million mark through a mix of deployments in outdoor venues and business services locations as well as in home-side routers (sometimes called “homespots” or neighborhood hotspots) that emit a secondary SSID signal. Comcast hasn’t shared its deployment breakdown, but the MSO is part of the “Cable WiFi” roaming consortium (Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks), which has deployed more than 400,000 hotspots that are accessible by their respective high-speed Internet subs.

“The Xfinity WiFi network continues to grow and customers are using it more than ever,” Eric Schaefer, Comcast’s senior vice president, wireless product management, noted in this blog post about the milestone. “We just surpassed 10 million hotspots nationwide and so far this year, people have used those hotpots more than 3.6 billion times, a 500 percent increase.”

Comcast said Xfinity WiFi customers connect nearly five times per day on average, with an average session length of more than 25 minutes. Comcast’s Xfinity WiFi app has been downloaded more than 3 million times.

Schaefer also listed out 10 “favorite locations” where people are using Comcast’s WiFi network to connect, including The 606 in Chicago; the boardwalks in Ocean City, N.J., and Ocean City, Md.; the McKnight Road shopping/dining corridor in Pittsburgh, Pa.; the MBTA Green Line in Boston; The Commons on Champa in Denver; and Suburban Station in Philadelphia.

Comcast has been keeping a lid on how else it might use its WiFi network, though cable operators are expected to explore so-called “WiFi-first” strategies in which devices prefer WiFi connectivity and use cellular networks as a backup.  Comcast has MVNO agreements with Verizon Wireless and Sprint that it has an option to pursue. In the meantime, Comcast already offers a voice-over-WiFi options via Voice 2go, a feature that’s built into the MSO’s Xfinity Connect app for smartphones and tablets. Comcast launched Voice 2go in 2012.

Cablevision Systems, meanwhile, has launched a WiFi-only phone service called Freewheel. 

Comcast and Cablevision have rolled out similar homespot strategies and are likewise facing similar lawsuits over the practice. 

Broadening the reach of its wireless broadband network, Comcast announced Tuesday that it has deployed more than 1,800 quasi-public Xfinity WiFi hotspots in some high-traffic areas in its Keystone Region, an area that covers parts of western, central and northeastern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia and the Maryland panhandle.

For this portion of the WiFi deployment in Keystone, Comcast said it has installed hotspots in shopping spots along McKnight Road and Babcock Boulevard in Pittsburgh’s North Hills, Perkiomen Avenue in Reading, and Route 30 in Lancaster and York, among other areas. 

Comcast said it expects to add another 1,500 WiFi hotspots in the Keystone region before the end of the year. Those deployments will build on the thousands of WiFi hotspots Comcast has deployed elsewhere in the state, including the greater Philadelphia area.

Those hotspots are accessible for free to most Comcast cable modem subscribers, as well as broadband customers who receive broadband service from other members of the “Cable WiFi” roaming consortium – Cablevision Systems, Bright House Networks, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications.  Those operators have deployed more than 400,000 hotspots. Charter Communications, which has begun to deploy its own network of hotspots under the “Spectrum WiFi” and is in the process of acquiring TWC and Bright House, is expected to join the Cable WiFi group by the end of the year (subscription required).

Comcast’s total WiFi footprint (comprised of deployments in public and business locations, as well as via “Neighborhood Hotspots” installed in home-side routers) currently spans more than 8.6 million hotspots, Neil Smit, Comcast Cable’s president and CEO, said in May during the company’s first quarter earnings call.

“With the number of mobile devices increasing, now more than ever before, our customers want to be connected wherever they go,” said Christine Whitaker, SVP of Comcast’s Keystone Region, in a statement. “Having the largest Wi-Fi network in the region and the nation is a major benefit to our customers, and we are pleased to continue to make these investments.”

Comcast’s use of homespots – the lighting up of secondary “XfinityWiFi” signals in home broadband routers that are accessible to other credentialed Comcast customers when they are roaming – is under attack in the form of a lawsuit holding that the MSO is using them as quasi-public hotspots “without first obtaining authorization.”

The suits, filed December 4 in the U.S. District Court in Northern California by two plaintiffs – Comcast subs Toyer Grear and Joycelyn Harris – are seeking class action status, and argue in part that Comcast’s homespot approach violates the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

“Without authorization to do so, Comcast uses the wireless routers it supplies to its customers to generate additional, public Wi-Fi networks for its own benefit,” the suit claims.

Comcast homespots are currently set up as “opt-out,” meaning that DOCSIS gateways that are part of the deployment emit the secondary SSID by default.

Comcast, which has targeted the deployment of 8 million WiFi hotspots via home routers and gear deployed in businesses and other venues by the end of 2014, countered that its home-as-a-hotspot program is beneficial to customers and that subscribers have the option to turn off that capability.

“We disagree with the allegations in this lawsuit and believe our Xfinity WiFi home hotspot program provides real benefits to our customers,” a Comcast spokesman said in a statement. “We provide information to our customers about the service and how they can easily turn off the public WiFi hotspot if they wish.” 

Comcast’s WiFi FAQ notes that the gateway’s private and public facing SSIDs use separate service flows and “therefore anticipate minimal impact to the in-home WiFi network,” but does acknowledge that WiFi, as a shared resource, could be subject to “some impact as more devices share the network.”  Data usage via the secondary SSID does not get applied to the home customer’s monthly totals.

The lawsuit claims that Comcast’s homespot program also opens them up to security risks,  pushes power costs off on customers, and also predicts that Comcast will use these WiFi signals to build out a wireless/mobile service that can compete with cellular carriers.

Comcast has announced no such plans, though there’s been plenty of speculation about whether the cable industry at large might consider so-called “WiFi-first” services that prefer WiFi connectivity and use cellular as a backup. In October, Craig Moffett, partner and senior analyst with MoffettNathanson, suggested that cable is “best positioned” to reap the benefits of such a strategy.

On the security front, Comcast notes that when customers sign in, those credentials are protected by 128-bit encryption on the sign-in page, “the same standard used by thousands of online banking and financial services around the world…”  But Comcast does suggest that customers use firewall and anti-virus programs and that they turn off file sharing when using the computer or a handheld on a network, at home or on the road.