Comcast May Put Wi-Fi Transceivers On Cars, Buses, Humans

An anonymous reader writes "Comcast engineers want to put WiFi transceivers in rental cars, taxis, buses and even on humans to extend reach of its Xfinity WiFi network. They also detail an idea for offering incentives to drivers to move WiFi-enabled cars to areas where it needs WiFi coverage. The plan was detailed in a patent application published today by the USPTO (I wrote a story about it for FierceCable)." Speaking of extension, this sounds like a logical outgrowth of using wireless routers to grow the network. (I hope they choose their humans carefully, if this plan bears fruit.)

Comments

rule #1

[slashmydots]

Rule #1 of wireless networking. Don't attach your access point to something that moves or it really throws off your coverage mapping and disconnects people. How about their improve their crappy infrastructure so they can offer better bandwidth instead of wasting their money on yet another "netowork the homeless" caliber idea.

Re:rule #1

[BrentNewland]

Remember this is part of a bigger proposal, that if you allow your Comcast connection to be used by others, you in turn will get to use any Comcast access point.

Not quite. I had a chance to see the internal Comcast documentation on this once. You won't have a choice, if you have one of their wireless gateways, it will eventually be turned on for you and you can't turn it off. However, the XFinity wifi network is completely separate from your network, so unless someone finds a flaw in the firmware it should be secure. And, your network gets higher priority, and any data usage by a wifi customer doesn't count against the download speed you pay for (if you pay for 30mb down you can get the full 30mb down while another customer uses the wifi).

Mesh Network?

[firex726]

So wouldn't this be a moving mesh network?
I assume there would be issues if you're connected to a taxi that then moved out of range.

Insurance companies will use them to raise rates

[schwit1]

The insurance industry wants real time data from your vehicle on how, where and when you drive. The first step was the plug in device that give them some delayed data. The real goal is a constant wifi connection so your rates can be adjusted upwards for the slightest reason. They will compare your data with the weather, time of day, congestion, were you on the cell phone, etc.

You didn't come to a complete stop at all those intersections.
That light was yellow.
You were too close to the car in front of you
You were going over the speed limit or too fast for the conditions.

Re: 3G and 4G can run down the car battery

[Joe_Dragon]

1) The device could easily feature a cutoff switch to deactivate past a certain battery voltage, saving the battery from draining past the threshold needed to keep it healthy, and crank the car over when needed. 2) The device likely draws 1-2W (unless they are using massive tx power, which without a big ugly antenna is not allowed), and that is quite close to nothing when a 100AH car battery is concerned (83-166mA). Unless it's unhealthy for some other reason, 10AH (10% of the battery) would run the thing for 3-5 days. You would need to be parked a long time to kill a car battery.

yes but the rental cars some times push car maintenance out. So you may end with an car with an old weak battery that in some cases can run it down or lets say one day you use this and at the end of the day return it. It left 2-3 days at the car rental place and when the next user trys to start the car it does not start and you get the bill for a new battery + install + lost of use fee.

Re:Sure, I'll take a WiFi transceiver.

[Tablizer]

Reminds me of an old joke:

Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Jerry Sanders (CEOs of MicroSoft, Intel, and AMD) were in a high-powered business meeting. During the serious, tense discussion, a beeping noise suddenly is emitted from where Bill is sitting. Bill says, "Oh, that's my beeper. Gentlemen, excuse me, I need to take this call." So Bill lifts his wristwatch to his ear and begins talking into the end of his tie. After completing this call, he notices the others are staring at him. Bill explains, "Oh, this is my new emergency communication system. I have an earpiece built into my watch and a microphone sewn into the end of my tie. That way I can take a call anywhere."

The others nod and the meeting continues. Five minutes later, the discussion is again interrupted when Andy starts beeping. He states, "Excuse me gentlemen, this must be an important call." So Andy taps his earlobe and begins talking into thin air. When he completes his call, he notices the others staring at him and explains, "I also have an emergency communication system. But my earpiece is actually implanted in my earlobe, and the microphone is actually embedded in this fake tooth." The others nod in approval, and the meeting continues.

Five minutes later, the discussion is again interrupted when Jerry emits a thunderous fart. He looks up at the others staring at him in stunned silence, and says, "Quick! somebody get me a piece of paper... I'm receiving a FAX..."

They are going to lose that patent

[WindBourne]

I have worked on a similar concept for police back in the 90's and can prove it.