OceanNet is a company that provides building-wide WiFi to residential buildings in Ocean City, Maryland. One problem — the WiFi was really just some guy's Comcast account.
Apparently, the drama and resulting lawsuit got started when a Comcast employee needed access to a phone closet where OceanNet had installed its service. They found "that the WiFi network was drawing its Internet access from a residential-class cable modem illicitly spliced into the building's feed," according to Ars Technica. The modem was registered to a guy named Frank.
Comcast thought that was strange. They thought it was even stranger when they found out that Frank had Comcast residential accounts at 35 different addresses. Whoops.
Comcast could have disconnected the guy's accounts for the terms of use violation and let it go, but they've decided to sue him instead, alleging fraud.
OceanNet told the Maryland Daily Record that they plan to fight the lawsuit, claiming that Comcast signals are commonly used to power WiFi networks at cafes and other places of business that sometimes charge a fee.
"This is a practice that happens throughout any city," Clark said. "Unfortunately, we're one of the bigger guys in town - so, here we are."
Comcast claims OceanNet illegally tapped into its broadband signals [MD Daily Record]
Man uses 35 cable modems to provide WiFi, sued by Comcast [Ars Technica]
(Photo:mperton)
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