How do I disable xfinity wifi?

It's not just an Xfinity profile that seems to cause this behavior. I've never been an Xfinity customer and have never installed such a profile onto my iPhone, yet my iPhone has preferentially connected to it and other cable providers' Wi-Fi networks.

In addition, related to my previous post, my iPhone has recently autoconnected to both Zumiez and Macysfreewifi networks despite having previously tapped the "Forget this network" button for each of them when I've found my iPhone errantly connected to them before.

I'm beginning to think that there may be some sort of poor interaction with iCloud Keychain. Given that iCloud Keychain also shares Wi-Fi network preferences, that my iPhone had previously connected to these networks got propagated into the keychain, which got stored into my iMac, makes me believe that perhaps my iMac pushed an update out from its keychain to iCloud which then re-added them as preferred Wi-Fi networks on my iPhone.

Hi Daghis. Have you turned on Ask to Join Networks in your WiFi Settings? If that is on, the device should not join a new network without you accepting it. If it is off, the device will try to keep you connected while moving around.

From what I can tell there are two main issues -- one is the differences between iPhone and iPad -- they are supposed to both behave the same way, but I find that my iPhone 5s and my iPad Air do react differently to things. And it is clear that IOS knows what device it is running on. And, obviously, my iMac with OSX behaves significantly differently.

The second issue, as you mention is the iCloud! I sync my iPhone, iPad, and iMac via the cloud, and there are two things which I have observed -- the sync time varies all over the place. Sometimes it happens "fast" sometimes it happens "slow," and sometimes two of my devices are updated, but not the third. This is very true "duing the day" when the connectivity of my iPhone and iPad comes and goes depending on Wi-Fi availability. My iMac is ethernet connected. My iPhone does have cellular connectivity, but I have it disabled for most applications.

So, there are lots of variables.

So far, (first 24 hours) of having deleted the Xfinity profile, I have not re-connected to the nearby Xfinity hotspots. (BTW, those hotspots I have utilized are apparently reorded in the profile itself - It remembers them, but you can't delete them, only the entire profile.) Since this is a holiday weekend, I have not moved amongst multiple Xfinity hotspots, so we'll see what happens when I do later in the week.

I have this issue as well and it is annoying. I don't want to delete the profile or forget the network because when I am not home I want my devices to find the free xfinity hotspots as a paying customer. It bugs the **** out of me that when I walk in the door my phone connects to the xfinity hotspot my router is putting out vs. my very fast personal network. I manually have to switch back ALL the time. Connecting to the hotspot also prohibits my ability to print wirelessly because my printer is on my home network and and my device is on the hotspot and not the same network. This also is an indicator that I am not connected to my home network when "finding printer" looms until I switch over.

Hi Joe-ATV. Have you tried turning WiFi off when you relocate the device? I suspect it may be connecting to the hotspot because it's the same as the last network (another hotspot) it was connected to. However, the Profile may give priority to the hotspot always when in range.

Thanks Diana, I am sure that would work, but I guess my point is that this would also take some manual intervention and just as much as checking and switching. Not a big deal for sure and something I have gotten used to. I guess I just wish that maybe in a future iOS you could set priorities on wifi networks, such as always check and connect to *homenetwork* when available.

Here is the way it usually goes. I am out and about and I am sure that at some point my phone connects to xfinity wifi over LTE because it sees it. Thats a good thing for data. But I am sure during my drive home I switch to LTE, then I hit home and it jumps back to xfinity wifi hotspot. This is where I wish priorities could be set or even better, the strongest signal wifi is automatically connected.

Ok, thanks again. I just read it and I also thought you were suggesting I walk in the door and always turn it on and off as a general practice (maybe you are?). I will give it a shot.

With regard to the description above, I don't think it is actually doing this for me. My guess is this is how it works:

In my area, the dominant provider here is xfinity. When I am driving home through my neighborhood, the xfinity hotspot is being blasted from every household I go by as everyones router pushes this out. (I have tried disabling this on my router and it doesn't work because it's everywhere close to my home).

So, most likely as I get out of my car, I am already on xfinity wifi, so it does not switch over. In terms of the priority list in the article, my guess is this is followed when not connected to a wifi network and of course a few blocks from my home the only option would be the xfinty hotspot.

In a perfect world, iOS would check other networks within range while already connected to one and switch over to the personal network.

See what I mean? Am I making sense?

BTW - I am running iOS 11 beta and High Sierra Beta. I was hoping this would be an enhancement at some point.

You are, but in practice it differs slightly, if the phone is not connected to a network the rules you mention will be followed, if already connected to a network they wont, the phone will continue to be connected to whatever network it is currently connected to, multiple networks with the same SSID are treated as the same network.

William H. Magill1 wrote:

This is the answer. The Xfinity Profile overrides the normal IOS actions on joining WiFi networks.

It causes IOS to PREFER Xfinity WiFi if available!

No it doesn't, post the part of the profile that does that.

The simple answer is -- That explanation by Apple is not correct.

It simply does not describe the behavior of the IOS 10.3.x device. At best it is a very simplistic description that applies to a NEW, out of the box, IOS device which has never been connected to any WiFi network.

It clearly does not describe the behavior when there are multiple WiFi networks available - password protected or not.

One assumes that the key is the phrase "most recently joined" -- It is clear that IOS has no knowledge of Location. It assumes that if you can see a network of the same name as one you "most recently joined" that it is the same network, and that is the one you desire to continue using -- no matter if any other criteria SHOULD override that choice.

Or, put another way, IOS does NOT FORGET when you change locations and are now out of range of the original hotspot.

I can't even see the contents of the Profile. IOS hides the content. How would I post it.

BTW, deleting the profile only worked temporarily. It did not eliminate connecting to the Xfinity hot spot for all time.

Xfinhity describes the profile here:

Download the XFINITY WiFi Hotspots App or Profile to Prioritize Your Home Network

. . . Once download is successful, the profile will help your iOS device to prioritize your in-home WiFi network while at home, and automatically connect to secure XFINITY WiFi hotspots where available. Click Done.

Granted, this is typical marketing stuff -- no technical details at all. But the implication is clear -- use of the profile priortizes your use of Xfinity WiFi.

Does that mean that you can't support the assertion you made earlier?

And what does the document you linked to have to do with modifying profiles so that xfinity can use theirs to make the choice about what to connect to. Did you actually think this through?

Joe-ATV. Yes, you are making sense. And I was actually suggesting that you turn off WiFi, even when you lock the device for transit. That way, it would not connect to the neighbor networks, or to your own hotspot. Then, when you turn WiFi back on, it may prioritize your network, if you have stronger security, or a stronger signal.

I agree that iOS thinks that all networks with the same SSID and password are the same network. These hotspots just appear to be one huge network. The device loses and regains connection, but doesn't realize that it has switched access points.