Comcast Turns 50,000 Homes into Wi-Fi Hotspots

Comcast turned 50,000 home routers in Houston into public Wi-Fi hotspots on Tuesday, the first stage in the company’s plan to launch hotspots across the country.

Customers with newer wireless routers will now host a Wi-Fi network named “xfinitywifi,” which other Comcast subscribers can join at no cost, the Houston Chronicle reported. The cable company will reach 8 million hotspots by the end of 2014, covering more than half of the U.S.’s major cities, according to a press release. The move will allow Comcast to compete with companies like AT&T, which offers WiFi hotspots through Starbucks and McDonald’s.

While customers had the opportunity to opt out of the initiative, more than 99% chose to enable their hotspots, a move that will improve Xfinity Wi-Fi accessibility among Comcast users and help them cut cellular data costs. In the past year, the number of out-of-home Xfinity WiFi sessions has increased by 700%.

According to Cisco, 88% of all U.S. data traffic from mobile devices will travel via Wi-Fi by 2018.