- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Also, fuck xfinity and their BS. Can’t even change wifi password without downloading an app.
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Do not use their router. You are not required to. I have xfinity, and I use my own modem and my own router. No monthly rental fee. Just takes a little research before purchase.
Out of curiosity how would you use your own modem and router? Do you have to connect it to the ISP’s gateway or is there another method?
You would connect your own modem to the incoming coaxial line and then connect a router / access point to the modem. There is no need for ISP owned equipment with a coaxial internet connection.
Their gateway (basically a modem + router in one device) is to free to us because there’s a government subsidized program in my area that lets you get cheap internet and with that cheap internet plan also includes $0 per month equipment rental, so it’s free as long as we qualify for the subsidized plan.
Nobody in my household wants to spend extra money on a router that could impact speed and is redundant, since we already have one, and I certainly aint spending extra money on a router. Plus, it’s extra ewaste.
But yea I get your point, most people don’t have government subsidized internet like I do, so buying your own equipment is probably a better choice.
It saves me $10 per month, and that $120 per year is more than worth it. Plus, my home network is none of their business, and using your own equipment is your only means of privacy and control within your own network. I understand that not everyone cares, but consumers should be educated.
Also being bombarded with SIGN IN SIGN UP MAILING LIST COOKIES etc. Modern Internet sucks.
Not just the internet, consumer computing as a whole became a shitshow. You need accounts for everything, Microsoft pushes you hard to use their online service, the default becoming that you to log onto your own computer you need to go through their online Microsoft account, which is terribly unsafe (if your ms account gets hacked, the hacker had access to you system). After “software as a service” more or less has been normalised, I’m just waiting for hardware going down that path, too. I’d say it begins already that I had to create a NVIDIA account to actually update drivers. Soon, this account may not be free anymore.
To most issues like this there are workarounds, but sometimes you have to dig deep. So it’s either you need to spend time to make things work like you want, or accept all this crap. For me, this is fine, because I like the tinkering. But I am also *administrating" most of my elder family members’ computers, which is a nightmare because of that. “So I saved the document, where is it on my computer,?” - “If you used the default OneDrive crap, it just is not on your computer…”
This is the power of FOSS. By default it treats the end user with dignity because you aren’t a tool to extract value from anymore.
It’s because an app allows them to collect all kinds of telemetry and usage data that they can’t get from a browser. Browsers inherently limit what kinds of data they can collect by walling them off, while an app gives them full control over what they collect.
Yep…I use rethinkDNS to filter some, and App manager (require root) to disable some tracking components. It helps when u have to use an app
and allows them to incorporate any bullshit code they like in fashions no sane browser would accept in a thousand years.
And send you (usually completely useless) notifications.
And the app icon acts as an little ad for their company / brand
But they run unnecessary JavaScript Frameworks just for a page which redirects you to the download.
Let me introduce you to the mighty Ctrl+W.
The Ctrl+W salute!
Ctrl+W? Am I too much of a computer noob to understand?
Edit: Oh, just searched it, it closes a window? I don’t normally use shortcuts so I don’t know what most shortcuts are.
deleted by creator
It’s a bit like alt f4
closes a tab
“any browser you like” back then, eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.At least there was antitrust lawsuits, google has been getting off scot-free with chromium
With a lot of things. Antitrust is dead.
The EU is still fighting monopolies. The US needs to too, but it’s such a deeply unhealthy democracy now, it may be a while before it gets back to it.
I’m just going to say that, as someone who has dealt with technology for over 30 years, and has worked in, on, and with the internet for probably ~20 years, there has never been a time where every webpage ever, has worked in any one browser. IE6 was close, but that was mainly because it was either the only option, or at least the only one people knew about. There were still blowhard sites that only worked in Netscape navigator, or whatever… but the opposite was true as well, some things worked in IE that would refuse to function in Netscape/FF/opera.
Even during the supposed golden era of the past maybe ~3 years, just shortly prior to the app superiority complex of post 2020 internet, there were still sites that required IE. There were also sites that refused to function on IE… I’ve had issues getting very normal webpages to even load on any browser, but then I fire up Firefox and it works perfectly and instantly. Yet, FF has its own incompatibilities.
So the initial premise of the joke is, for all intents and purposes, invalid. There has never been a time that you could pick literally any browser, and have access to everything that’s on the internet… nevermind that being true for every browser.
It’s true that all mainstream sites worked in every browser, but that was always true… sites like that make a point of making themselves available regardless of what bad decisions you make over what browser to use. Those sites come to you, in that way (so to speak). Some sites demand you go to them, which is to say that you must operate their site in the way they want you to.
The app-ocalypse is just the latest in a long trend of getting you to meet them on their terms.
I bring a sort of UserAgent Switcher vibe to the party that Big Tech don’t really like.
Exactly, teams with Firefox can’t do a lot of things, but pretend to be edge and all of a sudden magically new features work now.
Apple’s shit fets me with this all the time
Bro Microsoft gives me credit points (i opted out and they just forced it back down my throat a week later) for using edge. Little do they know im on firefox
Apps today are just the AOL keywords of the 90s prove me wrong
looks at IE6
Time is a flat circle
“You must install Real Macromedia Java Player in order to view this video, then allow ActiveX controls.”
I was gonna post IE6. Internet technology was stagnated for a few years until Firefox lit a fire under everyone’s ass.
Firefox defeated the ie monopoly hope it does the same to the chormium monopoly
I’m skeptical that a FF with a majority market share would continue to be as user-centric as it is now. Honestly I sort of hope that a third option comes out, but FF is my go to option for now.
I’ve lost faith in Google (nod to your username) for sure - in general I miss disruption, everyone used to believe they could do it better so no one shied away from the idea of building a better browser engine or any other technology for that matter.
Google stopped making decisions in the best interest of anyone other than their shareholders a long time ago.
I don’t really think the current setup is too bad. Chromium being open source means anyone can fork it and make their own better browser without having to write everything from scratch.
Personally, I use Vivaldi. To the best of my knowledge Google can’t spy on me, they have plans for mitigating Manifest V3, and it has many useful extra features such as tab splitting and separate workspaces. It’s made to be super customizable and from my experience the interface stays mostly the same between updates - something that annoyed me a lot about Chrome/Firefox. It can be a little rough around the edges sometimes, but I love using it.
Mozilla is funded by Microsoft so they can point to it and say “we’re not a monopoly look at this other browser”. Literally the same reason apple exists. We aren’t getting an open market we’re getting bought and paid for fake competition.
but Safari is the new IE6, it doesn’t support the non-compliant Google Chrome only API I want to use and that’s tyranny!
Dude just don’t use their router. All you need is the modem
Having your own router/access point can’t be stressed enough.
And, you don’t even need their modem. Sure it’s an additional outlay of cash, but buying your own modem gets you a nice upgrade and no worries about someone connecting to the Xfinity access point that’s bundled in their equipment.
And it pays for itself in less than a year
Plus the router usually comes with a subscription fee, whereas BYO router is a one-time payment. Ngl, some routers are expensive and if you can only afford the stock one they provide, I get it, but you’re definitely better off with your own.
Forgive my ignorance but how does it solve the issue mentioned? Do I need to flash my modem/router with certain software to block the pop ups to download the app?
I was referencing the text where OP mentioned they couldn’t change their WiFi password without the Xfinity app
That’s weird. What kind of router doesn’t have either web interface or ssh/telnet for configuration…?
The xfinity gateway (modem + router in one device)
10.0.0.1 is the web access to the controls and this is what it shows:
They link to a webpage to change those settings, which requires logging to xfinity account, but now this webpage just tells you you have to download the app.
Xfinity and Spectrum provided ones
Why would you continue to get pop ups?
I meant the pop ups on every website to download the app when on my phone
Can’t always do that. At my last place I had att fiber with an all-in-one modem/router combo. You could not opt out and use your own modem. Best you can do is use the all in one as a pass through to your own router
Not at all. If you know a bit about networking, you can log into the modem/router and set whatever you like.
Already tried:
Options all greyed out with a message telling you to go to xfinity.com/myxfi which just tells you to download the app
Oh wow, they really closed it down huh?
Not too long ago you were able to change it.
This dumbing things down to prevent customers from fucking themselves over and using up CS resources is getting ridiculous.
Say you need to change some settings but your modem/router isn’t online then you’re SOOL.
Cox, who uses the same gateway, is even worse. They won’t even allow you to enable legacy mode (802.11b) for IoT devices that cheaped out on WiFi cards, not even on a separate network and their customer service can’t enable it either.
I dread moving into a Cox region where there’s no fiber competitor available.
Yikes. I would get my own modem and router then.
I would call and see if there’s a way to turn off automatic management.
It is FAR cheaper to buy and maintain your own modem and router. I’ve bought an $80 cable modem less than once a decade. Last I checked, Comcast charges you about $8 a month to rent a modem. That modem I bought paid for itself before the first year was up and has kept on trucking since. Just make sure Comcast hasn’t decided to bill you the modem rental for your own hardware, because they will try and they will not refund your money for their mistakes.
Lol you clearly weren’t actually using the internet years ago. If you didn’t have Microsoft internet explorer and flash plugin loads of sites wouldn’t work.
I’ve been using the internet since around 2015 with both Chrome and Firefox (I switch in between frequently), I never have to install plug-ins except for like flash games, but normal sites work fine without any plugins.
Ahh. So a newbie. There was a short time which was as you described, which you seem to have started your internet journey during. Before then it was IE and plugins otherwise loads of sites wouldn’t work right, after that is now with everything claiming it needs chrome.
Jezus, 2014-2015 was my first year at university. I feel old now.
That’s around the time I got my first phone, I feel too young to be here.
I’ve been on the internet since the 90s and I think you’re missing the point.
The point that op is rose tinting the past when all that’s happened is we’ve moved from one evil megacorp dominating the internet to another?
pLeAsE uSe cHrOmE fOr tHe bEsT eXpErIeNcE
It’s like if they were a physical location and trying to dictate what car you drive to get there. What business is it of theirs?
