Internet connectivity | Smelling change

Yet another round of being out and about today, thinking I could just hop on the Xfinity Wi-Fi spray at an open air mall, and nope; Comcast blocked the freebie hotspot connection unless I want to get back on their internet plan. 

I get it. Just because I have access to my Comcast email because we now have Hotwire, doesn't mean I can just meander into the hotspot zone any time I want (unless I'm paying for it). It is just a bummer since you can't be some sort of grandfathered in, to use the "out in the world" sprays if you have a previously used / still in use email address. What's the point of allowing customers to access the email account if they're not currently any type of Comcast subscriber, if you can't use the hotspots? 

It's nice to be able to have to have not worried about changing all the social network / personal profile information stuff on everything we belong to, using the comcast.net email address, but for the sake of shopping or being out, it'd be nice to jump on the Wi-Fi instead of using cellular data every once in a while. 

Just because we currently are getting ripped off by paying Hotwire for internet doesn't mean we have free roaming in the world once we leave the house. Hotwire isn't everywhere. It'd be nice to be able to use the Comcast email to connect to places. I mean, if anything, maybe that would allow better (positive) word of mouth for the conglomerate company? 

For example, if my friends are having problems with Comcast, but me not having it anymore, because I used to, being able to connect to a hotspot (grandfathered in, just for that aspect), I could say that Comcast is doing me a solid by allowing me to connect anywhere in the country, so I can keep active in my life. 

If letting me keep my username attached to their email server is not hurting them, why does me trying to connect to their hotspot make a difference? The business using Comcast and has an open spray is the one paying the Internet bill. 

Okay, sure, it sounds like I'm trying to get illegal internet on my phone. 

But think about it:

Comcast modem / routers have the ability to have an open spray as well as a closed spray. You can have dual bands going so your private spray stays private (password provided to members of your house and only special guests) so no one mooches off your monthly data / quota. But you then have the ability to run a second spray as a "guest" spray where anyone with a Comcast ID can log in and it has no effect on your overall bill. It's like a friendly ghost spray that no one talks about because it's not there. It hangs in the background and only gets acknowledged if someone wants to latch on to it. You also can choose to shut that off so you don't get any type of random drive-by where people hangout in front of your house for hours on end. #Creeperstatus. 

So if the overall bill is being paid by the business and they have their open spray, why can't someone with a Comcast username get on the internet, even though they themselves aren't paying any type of bill? If you have the Comcast username, you had been a customer at one point in time. You can't just arbitrarily get a "comcast.net" email without having been a member. Which is why if they let you keep that address when you no longer have the account, you should be able to connect to the free sprays. 

I don't want to end up losing my email address, but it would be a really nice gesture if Comcast let previous customers use the XFINITYWIFI spray when they no longer have a an internet account. 

Even though, now that I think about it, it could be a problem since then anyone can cancel their Comcast and try to find a neighbor or someone and connect to that spray. Mooch off someone else indefinitely. But... anyway the wind blows, the signal won't be strong enough. So you run the risk of not having a stable connection if you live a door or two down from the person who has their Comcast open.

Look at my neighbors, for example.

My HP laptop is connected to my password protected home network. But it sees my immediate upstairs neighbor (in full signal), my immediate next door neighbor (where my bedroom window looks out to the shared walkway of the upstairs lady and these neighbors... and they don't have a full signal to boot. I mean, they do, but it's not a full 5 bars like the woman upstairs), Ed who is two doors down (and 3 bars) and who knows who else I am seeing. 

If any of these were unlocked networks, surely I could piggy back on them. At the very least, if they were Comcast networks with the XFINITYWIFI spray underneath them, I could latch onto that as well. That's also providing I had been a paying member. 

Therefore, using the concept of how strong the signals are, I theoretically can get in on my upstairs neighbor's internet if I had her password. She has the strongest signal outside the next door neighbor's. But why would I want Mike and Thea's if upstairs is one bar more? Which goes back to the whole problem I can see happening if Comcast just lets anyone with an ID connect to the wifi spray. It creates chaos and moochery. 

"Ass, gas or grass. No one rides for free". Yet you get a free email "for life". It's not like we're doing any malice. I just want to not use up my cellular data when I'm out shopping or someone doesn't want to connect me to their private network (stingy bastards).

Okay, stop griping and change the subject. You're going around the drain too long. Just finish and move on. 

I wanted to provide an update on the deodorant front. 

It looks like the ingredient listing on the hello Activated Charcoal Fresh and Clean Deodorant is not the same as the version I'm currently using. 

The one Amazon has, lists the ingredients as:

maranta arundinacea (root powder), cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, caprylic/ capris triglyceride, stearyl alcohol, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, copernicia cerifera (carnauba) wax, triethyl citrate, oryza sativa (rice) bran wax, fragrance, magnesium hydroxide, zinc ricinoleate, tocopheryl acetate, melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree) leaf oil.

The one I'm using, lists the ingredients as: 

dimethicone, stearyl alcohol, C15-19 alkane, diheptyl succinate, C12-15 alkyl benzoate, hydrogenated castor oil, cetyl alcohol, aluminum starch octenylsuccinate, fragrance, capryloyl glycerin/sebacic acid copolymer, tocopheryl acetate, charcoal powder.

Which means a few things:

1. The version I am using isn't online anymore, except as "out of stock" on eBay. No one carries it. I had gotten it at Ollie's last year and haven't seen it since. 

(For those who are from New England and are old enough to appreciate this, Ollie's is what would be if Building #19, Christmas Tree and Job Lot somehow had a baby [leaning more on the Bldg 19 gene pool]. Building #19 actually sold their copyright / signage stuff to the owners of Ollie's when they went out of business and now Ollie's hangs a lot of the slogans. They just retrofitted the old man to their liking). 

2. The version I am using isn't aluminum free. Yet, when I first moved to Florida, my doctor said I have an aluminum allergy if I keep having issues. This and other deodorants I've used (sprays) prove that wrong. I've been pretty dry and fine with this. Conversely, the Amazon version is aluminum free.

3. The version I'm using is 48 hour sweat + odor protection because it's an antiperspirant. 

4. The Amazon version / normal version is 24 hour odor protection because it's just a plain deodorant. Even though it claims that "aluminum-free, formulated not to stain: block odor, not sweat with hello aluminum-free deodorants. aluminum, the cause of stains, is added to some deodorants to prevent sweating.hello aluminum-free deodorants provide all day friendliness to fight stinky without staining, anything less would be the pits", I'm curious as to the sweat thing. My pits stay dry with the stick I'm using... would they with this one?

4. Both are dye free, parabens free, baking soda free and vegan. They both are Leaping Bunny Certified so they're not tested on animals. 

But aren't humans considered animals????

I'm going to have to try the new version, to see if it works. I've had deodorant before with coconut oil and shea butter in it, and have been fine (hello, Native). I just can't handle any random types of essential oils like lemongrass. Tea tree oil is seemingly fine as I've used it in other products (including cleaning my piercing holes [I've got 4g earrings in my ears]). So it has to be the lemon/lemongrass that bothers me. 

I've had no issues since using this hello brand and if I had to complain, I'd say that the charcoal actually works by making little specks of deodorant balls on my skin when I'm taking a shower in the morning. It's like little flecks of crusties to wash off. It's nothing gross; it's just the deodorant being cleaned off my pits. I've had that before with other natural sticks. It's the cornstarch effect. 

Three day warning: If you haven't done anything for Halloween, it'll be here Tuesday. Use your Prime membership wisely. 

Stay cool, dry and online. 

Cheers;