In my neck of the woods comcast has been doing this for well over a year. As much as I hate it--- I love it! everyone has comcast cable so there arent many streets where there isnt at least 1 wifi for me to log into. The great thing is it connects by to any comcast wireless router. I thought my sprint speeds had increased until the speed test showed i was on wifi.. The best thing is its included with my service - not an add on feature. THis really helps when my cell signal doesn't cut it.
As more people return the old comcast modems and get this new wireless one coverage will only get better. They have access to VZW to sell phone service without using vzw name. So i can def see them rolling out some hybrid lte/wifi service in a couple of years, maybe sooner.. Even if they only offer it as a bundle, VZW lte/coverage and offload to wifi? If they can somehow make it work without the hard drops they could instantly make a big splash..
This may help sprint purchase tmo, if comcast has plans whats all the crying about only having 3 if comcast will be 4th? Maybe sprint/dish have more plans then what we know of