Unable to disable automatic connection to Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots on Xfinity Mobile devices

I'm now connected with Tier 2 after another 2 hours on the phone and they're telling me that there is nothing that can be done, and that they're 99% sure that Tier 3 cannot do anything either.

It is very obvious that there is a regression with the ability to turn off auto connecting to Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots and nobody is able to contact the team behind carrier updates.

Are you able to manually connect to your home WiFi network?

Yes, I manually have to do this every single time I return home.

Update on 7/10/2020:

I was contacted by Karla P from corporate due to the FTC / FCC complaints that were filed, and she is going to get in contact with the engineering team to try and have this resolved.

I don't know why Tier 2 and Tier 3 couldn't escalate this issue, and it's honestly sad that we have to work so hard to get regressions like these fixed, especially when it has a major impact on your service.

I know there are plenty of other people that have posted on both reddit and the Xfinity forums regarding this issue.

If this issue is affecting you, and you cannot disable auto connecting to Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots as instructed here, I highly recommend you file an FTC / FCC complaint to force Comcast to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

FTC Complaint Form

FCC Complaint Form

Only in greater numbers will we be heard.

Thank you.

Update on 7/23/2020:

It's been two weeks, and this escalation has done nothing.

Karla P. has spent the last two weeks asking the same basic troubleshooting questions that the first line of Xfinity Mobile support has already gone over. This is like the 5th or 6th time going over the same troubleshooting steps.

Karla has screenshots of all of my network settings, and despite being able to see everything she is still asking me to change settings that are already configured as she's requested.

I'm stuck in a feedback loop, and it's like everybody forgets the questions they asked previously and simply ask the same questions over and over again.

I'm a Software Engineer and I am very familiar with the Android ecosystem. This is a carrier based feature that you could previously disable, and now that option is no longer available after Android 10 due to presumably a regression in the firmware update process.

Doug,

I had similar issues with my Galaxy S8 after an update caused the option to turn off AutoConnect to become grey and unusable. I recently found a solution that seems to be working so far. I went into settings and searched Wi-Fi and selected the Wi-Fi control under the Special access menu. I clicked on Wi-Fi control on the screen it brought me to. Next you should have a list of apps and I went to the bottom and removed the permission from the XFINITY WiFi Settings app.

I don't have any apps from Xfinity except for the Xfinity My Account app. I clicked the Wi-Fi control history, and it is blank; indictating that no preinstalled apps have been making changes to Wi-Fi.

Doug,

You are right it doesn't show in the app list for installs but it should show on the permission list.

If you go to Settings and search for "Special Access" that will take you to a list that should have "Wi-Fi control" on the bottom. That will load a list of apps with "XFINITY WiFi Settings" at the bottom. Once you click on that you can turn off the option to "Allow app to control Wi-Fi".

I've had my phone running this way for over a month now and I have never seen that XFINITY hotspot show back up with no downsides. I beleive that the WiFi control history was empty because it only shows apps turning WiFi on and off and not changing the connected hotspot.

I disabled the setting that allows the Xfinity My Account app to manage the Wi-Fi on my device and it still auto connected to the Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspot near my home; resulting in no internet access (MMS included) until I manually connected to my home network. There are no other apps from Xfinity installed on my device.

Thanks for trying to help.

I'm having the exact experience as you.  Only Xfinity app under the list is "Xfinity My Account" and it doesn't help.  I believe this is being controlled by the sim card itself.  I went ahead and filed the approprate FCC and FTC complaints.  This is outrageous.  I've been struggling with this for months now and there is no solution.  There should be a simple toggle switch to allow me to disable this.  I'll be in my own home and my phone will disconnect from my excellent signal home wifi and connect to a barely usable "XFINITY" network without my permission constantly.  This make it impossible to control my smart devices.  Additionally, it will constantly connect to these hotspots while I'm driving, interrupting my music streaming and whatever else I'm doing.  Only solution is to disable wifi completely which leaves me at the risk of not remembering to turn it back on later, resulting in higher WIFI usage.  I'm sick of it!  I'm pretty sure they installed the certificates on the SIM card itself.  I can put my SIM in a *VERIZON* phone, and it will start connecting to these hotspots without my permission -- there are ZERO xfinity apps installed on the verizon device.  Taking the sim out stops it immediately.

Xfinity - you need to take this seriously and fix it.  Give us the option to turn this off.  You are violating our privacy by forcing these connections without permission.

Yeah, it's an absolute nightmare to deal with and I wish more people were vigilant about coming forward and speaking up about this. Xfinity will continue to shift blame to Samsung as usual, but it becomes harder to do so when more people are speaking up.

We don't pay $1,200 for a flagship device to be forced onto Xfinity Wi-Fi networks that have degraded service. It basically forces you to continuously stay on mobile data racking up extra data charges or to remember to reconnect to your own home network whenever you return home; and forgetting to do so can result in nothing working outside of SMS and voice calls. I think even MMS messages are tied to a data connection. Oh, and good luck if you work a job where you travel a lot. I've heard several people complain about that too.

I seriously wouldn't be surprised if there is eventually a class action lawsuit over it. This isn't native android functionality (there are plenty of reports of this happening on iOS too) and can severely degrade your service; not to mention the risk of your phone connecting to a spoofed hotspot with the same ssid.

Thanks for filing your formal complaints with the agencies mentioned above. That will only help everyone in the long term and I hope others with this issue continue to do so for everyones benefit.

Just chiming in to say its October and this issue is still happening.  I've seen a few other threads on it as well.  My neighbor has the Xfinity network being broadcast and my phone constantly connects to  it even tho my full signal 5ghz network is excessively stronger and faster.

(Galaxy S20+)

Even when I go into  Wifi > Advanced > Hotspot 2.0 > Xfinity Mobile and disable auto reconnect the setting mysteriously turns itself back on every now and again.

I'm tired of being kicked off my network onto a network that barely works.  I've had work calls drop due to this which is quite frustrating only to see that I'm somehow not on my home network.  When I go thru walks in my neighborhood I need to turn off Wifi if I want any chance of data being usable on my phone otherwise its the constant connection to a random Xfinity network that isn't actually useable.  This is ridiculous and my irritation is almost no longer worth the cost savings.

Also just wanted to chime in to say how frustrating this is, and thank you Doug for taking the time to go through this whole process, you've certaintly saved me a lot of time as I was about to reach out to Xfinity for this exact issue; no matter what I try, my Samsung Galaxy S20 never fails to cling on to some weak 'XFINITY' wi-fi spot that it picks up while I'm out (which it connects to without my permission of course), and even when I return home, sitting right next to my router, it'll prefer that 'XFINITY' network, I pretty much have to restart the wifi on my phone everytime I get home, and disable it when outside.

I never thought about this being a privacy issue, but I will be making a formal complaint to the FCC/FTC as well, and if this isn't resolved I'll have to consider a different carrier.

I've done that.  After a day, it begins connecting to Xfinity WiFi network again. 

Just spoke to: 

Karla P.

XM Regulatory Specialist

Which was due to either my FCC or FTC complaints that I filed.  I was told that this is a Samsung problem (lol sure).  Xfinity can't do anything other than track this issue and report it to Samsung.  That I can turn off my wifi if I want to use data and my phone should connect to my network at home.  She then asked if I was able to "forget" the XFINITY networks as if that's an option.

Yes I agree that the fix may need to be made by Samsung but I don't think it's my responsibility to hound them to fix it when I get my device thru Xfinity.