[my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list. I don't have chromecast. Why?
S5user
Enthusiast - Level 2

New Verizon user with Galaxy S5.

Looked at my router list today and I see "Jim's Chromecast" in the list.

Why?  I don't have a Chromecast.  Is this something new with KitKat that it assumes you're going to have Chromecast and throws it in your router list?  Or is it interpreting something else as a Chromecast and assumes it to be mine?  Or is it seeing some stranger named Jim's chromecast and adding it to the list just because it saw it sometime in the past couple of days?

This is quite odd...

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Re: [my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list. I don't have chromecast. Why?
rcschnoor
Legend

What exactly do you mean by your "router list"? Do you mean the available wifi signals your phone detects? If so, your phone detects ALL wifi signals within range of the phone, not just yours. How could it possibly know which wifi signals belong to you and which belong to others? Possibly a neighbor has a Chromecast.

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Re: [my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list. I don't have chromecast. Why?
S5user
Enthusiast - Level 2

I understand that, better than you know.  I am an IT professional.  I guess I should have explained in more detail so you wouldn't be able to snark at me.  I didn't realize that the Verizon forums was that sort of community.

If there were a chromecast device where I am located, broadcasting "Jim's Chromecast" as its SSID, it would show a signal.  It would likely have to be some neighbor with the name Jim, (why would Dan or John or Scott call his Chromecast "Jim's Chromecast?") and I know of no neighbors named Jim.  Regardless of that, rather than showing a signal, like most detected-but-never-connected routers/devices, it stays there regardless of my location, saying "Not in range."

That usually only happens when you specify a preferred network to connect to when in range.  If you have never connected to a detected wireless router/device, and you have never indicated that it should be connected to, and it goes out of range, it just disappears.  This does not.

This is why I am asking where it came from, because I certainly did not add it as a preferred network/device or as a "connect when in range" device.

Re: [my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list.  I don't have chromecast. Why?
Not applicable

This is going to be a real risky answer.

I have a friend who has Sprint, I guess it can be any provider.

He bought a brand new device, or so he was led to believe. He set the device up at the store and when he brought it home he noticed a SSID not ever seen before. Here is where the risky comes in. He looked at system settings and under the uptime on his device it showed xxx number of days/hours of use. However he owned it for less than an hour.

It turns out the new phone he paid full price for actually was a returned device. The SSID was locked into the WiFi list.

He first called and then went back to the Sprint store where the guy at the counter looked at what he seen and said it could have been a return and it was a mistake to sell it as new. He then tried to say the manufacturer tests devices at random and that could be the issue and that it would still be considered new.

In any case they took it back and gave him a brand new never ever used cell phone.

To check out the network broadcast look at any other device such as a tablet or note book or other device.

If Jim is not listed, then you know you were sold a used phone.

Good Luck

Re: [my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list. I don't have chromecast. Why?
S5user
Enthusiast - Level 2

It's not that.  When I first set up WIFI on my phone, and established connection to my home router, selecting"connect when in range" for it, there was no "Jim's Chromecast."

It was like that until a few days ago.

I do have the Passpoint feature enabled.  Are Chromecast devices passpoint-certified access points?  Does that feature add whatever Passpoint-certified devices detected by the phone with "connect when in range" set on?

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Re: [my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list. I don't have chromecast. Why?
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Just to understand, when you look at the available wifi SSID connections/routers/hotspots on your phone, you see a listing for "Jim's Chromecast". You are not connected to this wifi hotspot? Could it be possible that a neighbor called their router that name?

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Re: [my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list. I don't have chromecast. Why?
S5user
Enthusiast - Level 2

I see an entry for "Jim's Chromecast" with a status of "out of range" - which only happens when you actuallly connect to a wifi connection, which makes it simpler to "connect when in range" the next time it is available.  I have not knowingly connected to any wifi access points other than my own.

When I am at home, it still says "out of range" so if it is a neighbor's device, it's not something a neighbor has broadcasting all the time.  I wouldn't want to connect my phone to a neighbor's Chromecast anyway.

Going back to Passpoint, I have "Automatically connect to Passpoint-certified Wi-Fi access points" turned on in my Advanced settings.  The only explanation I can surmise would be that a) Chromecast is "Passpoint-certified," I was near an active Chromecast device called "Jim's Chromecast" sometime in the past few days and Passpoint-certified devices automatically get added to the list to be watched for as a preferred connection when it is in range.

If anyone knows whether a) Chromecast devices are Passpoint-certified access points, and b) whether "Automatically connect to Passpoint-certified Wi-Fi access points" automatically adds any Passpoint-certified access points it discovers as a wifi access point I have connected to, that would help determine whether that might be what happened.

Small complaint about Android KitKat wifi - I can't flag individual access points as preferred like you can do on other wireless clients (Linux, Windoze)  I guess it's something that will have to be maintained going forward to make sure the auto-connected passpoint devices don't clutter up the screen too much.

Would the best course of action be to disable the passpoint autoconnect?  Is that still too new a technology to have it enabled just yet?

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Re: [my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list. I don't have chromecast. Why?
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

I don't think a Chromecast can broadcast a wifi signal. It is possible that whomever created the SSID name for their router is also setup as a passpoint certified access point. I personally don't use that settings and don't know where I would find a location with such an access point.

Can you touch the listing for "Jim's Chromecast" and tell the phone to forget it? That's what I do if I don't want my phone to remember a hotspot location I previously connected to while out and about.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Re: [my] Chromecast suddenly showed up in my router list.  I don't have chromecast. Why?
Not applicable

http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/

It is broadcasting so you will get the ssid from the user who is or has installed it.

Other devices and nearby routers pick up the signal, I believe it is APP enabled. However I would do as ANN and yourself suggested and just ignore the connection.

Good Luck