Xfinity's Gigabit router will soon double as a smart home hub
Comcast's Xfinity division has made some forays into the smart home world already -- Xfinity Home started out as a home security product, but it now handles a number of common devices like locks, thermostats, light bulbs and so on. However, the millions of people who subscribe just to Xfinity Internet haven't been able to take advantage of these features; you need to also have an Xfinity Home subscription. That's going to change this year -- Comcast just announced that millions of its internet customers will be able to use their Xfinity "gateway" routers as smarthome automation hubs, free of charge. Specifically, Comcast says that people using its two most recent Gateways will get these features -- that's more than 15 million customers, or more than half of its 26 million internet subscribers. In comparison, Comcast says it only has about 1.3 million subscribers to its home security service, so the company is opening up these feature to a vastly larger gro...