[Discuss] Using Xfinity hotspots well

[worley at alum.mit.edu (Dale R. Worley)]

(I'm hoping this question has a straightforward answer -- and that
someone has discovered it.)

I am a Comcast customer.  I run Linux (Fedora 19 still) on my laptop.
It uses wpa_supplicant for authentication to 802.11 access points.

When I'm traveling, I can use the Comcast "xfinitywifi" hotspots.  But I
don't like the fact that I have to type my Comcast password into a web
form that's delivered by an unknown server.  (I know how to protect my
packets when they go *through* an unknown server.)

WiFi (802.11) has a fine system for authentication of clients and access
points in enterprise environments, WPA-EAP.  My bet is that Comcast has
implemented some version of WPA-EAP for its hotspots, and that all I
have to do for truly secure and nearly seamless access is configure
wpa_supplicant correctly.

It seems to me that this breaks down into two tasks:  (1) Find out the
variant of WPA-EAP that Comcast is using, and (2) Find out how to
configure wpa_supplicant to perform that variant.  I assume that I can
solve (2) with some work, but Comcast has stymied my every attempt to
solve (1).

I figure if anyone knows the answer to this, someone here knows the
answer.

Thanks,

Dale