*This post was sponsored by Comcast. All opinions are my own.
My husband and I often reminisce about how life was when we were younger. We didn’t have cellphones, Internet, cars that can stop before you hit something or e-readers. We used phones attached to the wall that you had to dial. We went to the library when we needed to do research as well as to take out books to read, and we certainly didn’t have cars that did some of the work for you.
I think the Internet is by far one of the greatest “inventions” (for lack of a better word) in our lifetime. To this day I am still amazed at all you can do on the Internet – research, shopping, find a recipe for dinner tonight, find old friends from school, get directions, buy movie tickets… the list goes on and on.
I try to explain to our kids (17 1/2 and 20) how life was BEFORE the Internet. They have a hard time grasping the concept of having to look at a map for directions or looking up a phone number in a giant book of phone numbers.
As amazing and indispensable as the Internet is… there are also negatives that many family find themselves having to address.
One of the biggest issues we used to have when our kids were younger was having them disconnect from the Internet during times they were supposed to be doing homework, dinner time and “Family Movie Night.” You can tell them to stay off their computers, but that was easier said than done. They would find ways to sneak back online. There was even a time we had to remove the computers from our kid’s rooms at night because we found them online in the middle of the night. We even went so far as to change their passwords so that they could only go online when we logged them in.
As parents we NEED to have control over our children’s Internet usage. The Internet is great for research, and for the occasional game, but school work, family time and play time are more important than “surfing the ‘net.”
There is a new feature now available for Comcast Internet customers called xFi. It puts YOU in charge of how your family engages with the Internet. Best of all, there is no additional cost for Comcast Internet customers.
With xFi YOU control your family’s Internet usage, giving YOU the ability to set parental controls as well as see which devices are connected to your WiFi.
We have A LOT of devices on our WiF. We have several iPads, five laptops, two e-readers, security cameras and more. We would appreciate a better way to keep on top of these devices as well as to easily add or remove them as needed.
It also shows which devices are most active, and which are least active. That is a great way to know which devices to deactivate from your WiFi. Why keep something connected that you barely use?
You can also set up profiles for each family member and include the devices they use. With this feature you can easily see which child is using what device, and what parental settings are set up for each one they use. With this feature, if your child is supposed to be doing homework, you can log on to their profile and see if they are currently using their gaming console. Kids won’t like that feature – but as a mom I think that is awesome!
With the profiles, you can clearly see how much Internet time each family member is using.
My favorite xFi feature is being able to pause the Internet. That means you can prevent devices, such as laptops or video controllers, from accessing the Internet. This feature is especially handy during dinner or homework time. You can even turn off the Internet at night time, preventing your children from sneaking on to their laptops at night when they are supposed to be asleep.
Check out this brief video that tells you more about xFi and some other great features that will be coming in the future.
You can even check out this blog post from Comcast to learn more about Xfinity xFi.
We don’t have Comcast, but after learning more about xFi I wish we did. I checked the availability, but it’s not currently available in my area.
You can check the availability of xFi by visiting the Internet Coverage Area page on the Comcast website.
I love how Comcast is putting control back into the hands of parents. It’s important that we continually monitor our children’s Internet usage. Children can easily have their time consumed by video games and social media, as well as other things they can access online.
I truly wish that other Internet providers would take a lesson or two from Comcast and provide their customers with similar controls – at no additional charge.
Once this is available in our area my husband and I are going to consider switching to Comcast as our Internet provider. Right now we’re stuck with the provider that we have.
If you would like to learn more about Comcast’s Internet service, xFi, you can visit them online at Xfinity.com. You can also check them out on social media (Facebook and Twitter). Those links, as well as their YouTube channel link, are found at the bottom of their website.
Are you a Comcast customer?
What feature (or features) do you like most about xFi? Is there another feature you would like as far as parental controls is concerned?
Feel free to share your thoughts. I always love to hear from readers.
Kimberly