Millions of Xfinity routers already sitting in living rooms can now work as motion sensors. Comcast turned on WiFi Motion with an Xfinity app update on Tuesday, as part of a new home-protection service called Xfinity Shield, and it costs nothing extra on compatible gateways.
WiFi Motion watches for disruptions in the radio signal between the Xfinity gateway and Wi-Fi devices in the home, then sends an alert in the app when it picks up unexpected activity. It doesn’t record video, capture images or identify people, Comcast says. The feature is opt-in and comes with three modes, Home Watch, Away Watch and Dark Watch, which is meant for nighttime. It needs an XB7 or newer gateway; a support page lists the Technicolor XB7, XB8, XB9, XB10, MXB1 and XER10.
“We have spent the last three years advancing the algorithms for WiFi Motion and tightening up some of the irregularities that came with the early versions of Wi-Fi sensing,” Kohposh Kuda, SVP of consumer products at Xfinity, told The Verge. He doesn’t pitch it as a replacement for cameras and door sensors yet, but said that “for the average household … this provides an adequate level of security protection.”
What else is in Shield
The free tier also adds network-level malware and phishing protection and updated parental controls. Shield Select, at $15 a month, adds an indoor camera with AI alerts for people, pets, vehicles and packages, a door or window sensor, seven days of cloud video storage and a 24/7 urgent response service, according to MakeUseOf and The Verge.
Comcast isn’t first here. Linksys launched a Wi-Fi motion service in 2021 and later discontinued it, Wiz sells Wi-Fi-sensing bulbs, and ADT recently bought Origin Wireless, one of the early companies in the field. What’s different is the installed base: Comcast can light up the capability with a software update.
The fine print
The terms drew the most attention. “Subject to applicable law, Comcast may disclose information generated by your WiFi Motion to third parties without further notice to you in connection with any law enforcement investigation or proceeding, any dispute to which Comcast is a party, or pursuant to a court order or subpoena,” the FAQ says. The same page says the service “is not a home security service and is not professionally monitored.”
9to5Mac pointed out that the motion data won’t be sold to advertisers, and the feature stays off unless a customer enables it in the app and picks the stationary devices that define the sensing area. Kuda told The Verge that Comcast sees WiFi Motion as “the foundation for what we think we can do with more advanced use cases.”
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