A confusing issue

I was just watching an old Sherlock Holmes movie. Might as well use his methods.

xfinitywifi is the SSID used by ALL Comcast hot spots. Looking at the app "Wifi Analyzer" on my Android smartphone, I see 5 access points named xfinitywifi. You probably had a similar situation before the storm. One of those was fairly close and the one you were using. However, after the storm, the closest xfinitywifi hot spot dropped off the air for some currently unknown reason. So, now you are connecting to one of the other xfinitywifi hot spots, which may or may not have connectivity after the storm. Or, whatever you have configured on your unspecified Apple equipment might have been specific to the original Comcast gateway that you were originally using. You might try rebooting EVERYTHING that you're using and see if that helps. That include temporarily removing the battery and battery charger from your HP laptop and letting everything discharge (about 30 seconds).

Another complication is that the Comcast gateway that you're connecting to was hung or mangled by a power glitch. There are some models, such as those made by Technicolor, that tend to have that problem. If the gateway has a backup battery installed, it will need to be reset with a paper clip, or by Comcast tech support. Cycling the AC power does nothing. It may take a while for your neighbor(s) to notice. If you know which neighbors xfinitywifi system you're using, you might try banging on their door and ask them to reset their gateway.

It might also be that your wireless client in your computer is still trying to connect to one xfinitywifi hot spot, while the other computer is trying to connect to a different xfinitywifi hot spot. Check the MAC addresses of the hot spots in the connection manager to be sure. If this is the problem, try to set the target MAC address to the xfinitywifi hot spot that still works.

...when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

Thanks for responding Jeff. I'm not quite sure I understood everything you said but I'll try responding as intelligently as I can.

I've never seen more that one xfinitywifi on my list of networks either uns ecured or password required. I don't think any of my neighbors has xfinity as I never see it.

I have done the battery thing on my computer and have even gone into the Xf inity account page and removed my device from the list to see if that would do anything. No.

I've tried to "forget" the wifi network on the ipad and iphone to no avail. There is another unsecured network listed and she's a couple of buildings down from me and both devices can connect but the signal is extremely weak and drops off.

I'm ordering internet service for my apartment now because I watch tv onlin e and I bought the Ipad to give my computer a break. Where I am in New Ham pshire, I'm lucky to get a cell phone signal where I live. It was a nice b reak to use the hotspot for free and have it work so well. I don't suppose I'll ever find out where it is. It was like it was right here in my apt b ecause if I went outside with my phone the signal would weaken. Mysterious . It's really funny that the "hot spot team" doesn't know a thing.

If you can think of anything else, please let me know. It's maddening.

year now without issues. Very strong signal and great speed. I have my HP laptop, an Ipad mini and my iphone. All connected without problems. ( I never understood how I could have that great of service when the nearest ho tspot is 1/2 mile away).

et. I had no interruptions where I live but I lost internet for a short pe riod of time. Then it came back, but only on my laptop. My Apple devices just say no internet service on the xfinity network. I can take these devi ces elsewhere and connect on a hotspot or a home network. Just not in my a partment.

Apple was puzzled as well. It just doesn't make sense.

If you are not already using a WiFi searching program on your laptop it might be worth giving the Acrylic WiFi program a try.

It can be found at

and is free to use for home users. It will show you all the WiFi transmitters in your local area, even if they all have the same SSID. One nice thing is that this program gives you the SSID as well as the MAC address of the transmitter. Not knowing Apple products I wonder if it tells you the MAC address of the transmitter it is trying to use.

Thanks for the information. My tech knowledge is limited but I'll give thi s a try.

a year now without issues. Very strong signal and great speed. I have my HP laptop, an Ipad mini and my iphone. All connected without problems. ( I never understood how I could have that great of service when the nearest hotspot is 1/2 mile away).

rnet. I had no interruptions where I live but I lost internet for a short period of time. Then it came back, but only on my laptop. My Apple device s just say no internet service on the xfinity network. I can take these de vices elsewhere and connect on a hotspot or a home network. Just not in my apartment.

. Apple was puzzled as well. It just doesn't make sense.

Looks like Xfinity internet service is down in various cities: At this time, it's working in Santa Cruz CA at my palatial office, but you might not be so lucky.

I'm on a hotspot right now as far as I can tell with my laptop. I've had n o outage since the storm. That's what makes this more of a mystery because I cannot connect to the wifi on my ipad or iphone. It doesn't make sense. The xfinitywifi shows up on the network list but the devices can't connec t and it says no internet connection.

You might have tried this but on the devices that will not connect, go into them and tell them to totally forget the Xfinity WiFi ever existed, reboot them, and then let them try and relearn the Xfinity WiFi settings. Possibly they were connecting to one hotspot and now are connecting to another one with the same "name" or SSID but because the two of them have different MAC address values your devices are getting confused.

I've done that. I've reset network settings. About the only thing I haven 't done is reset to factory settings. I'm not sure I want to do that.

ad no outage since the storm. That's what makes this more of a mystery bec ause I cannot connect to the wifi on my ipad or iphone. It doesn't make se nse. The xfinitywifi shows up on the network list but the devices can't co nnect and it says no internet connection.

I don't know what happened but WIFI has returned to my ipad and phone. I'l l probably never get the explanation for what happened.

ad no outage since the storm. That's what makes this more of a mystery bec ause I cannot connect to the wifi on my ipad or iphone. It doesn't make se nse. The xfinitywifi shows up on the network list but the devices can't co nnect and it says no internet connection.