Public WifI Hotspot won't disable after turning it off in the Xfinity app and multiple reboots of gateway

FWIW. You have already answered your own question ! 😉

I can't answer that, sorry. I'm not an employee. All I know is what I've seen here many many times. It's a chronic problem !

You will not be able to disable the public hotspot as long as you continue to use leased hardware from xFinity.  As you have learned, even if you do disable it, ti will be turned back on the the next renew cycle for your modem.  Suggest you find a compatible third party solution.  I have not used hardware from an ISP in at least 20 years.

I am having the same issue, where it gives me the "option" to turn off the hotspot both on the app and online, but it won't actually turn it off.  This is a huge problem because xfinity talks about their parental controls.  I have my children's phones set up in the app and have a bedtime, etc for when the internet shuts off- which is great in theory.  The problem is, when our main wifi shuts off for them, they can just flip right over onto the xfinity wifi, so the parental controls basically do nothing as long as the hotspot is working :(

Do either of you that responded have recommendations to go about finding a "compatible third party solution?"

Thanks