Questions about xfinitywifi hotspot

The *XFINITY* one is.

They were wrong ! No surprise there..........

Are you using the Xfinty WiFi hot spot app on your phone ?

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/about-xfinity-wifi-internet

Thank you for your response. But when I try and hook up my iphone the certificate says that it is not trusted. what does that mean?? 

i want to be 100 percent sure that my phone and its contents are secured. 

Thank you so much for your help. I had contacted comcast assistnat chat and he had said the xfinitywifi was a secure line. 

Well, hang on there.  There's a lot of reasons why you'll get a cert error.  Are you getting it on the XFINITY one too?? Thought the launch page on the lower case one wasn't encrypted in the first place.

Cert error regardless:  Have you updated your phone lately?  Trusted CA's do have an expire date.  An update will include the root CA's and update keys for you.

Another common one is, do the gateway and phone know what date and time it is?  The phone should from the cell link unless you set a goofy timezone.  Is there a timezone setting on the gateway you can get to in the app or the admin configuration web page?  Time skew out of range or a date in the future will throw an error too.

The gateway may be using an expired cert that didn't get updated too.  If you have an option to "view the certificate" on your phone when you get that error, check out the date in the details to see if it is expired.  A date/time in the past.  Forget the network and rejoin to get the error again.  Never blindly accept a bad cert while browsing either.  The web isn't a nice place, and even a valid cert only proves someone registered a domain name, and pointed it to an IP address.

The error is valid, and needs to be investigated unless you created a self-signed certificate and know what you connected to.

XFINITY is the encrypted one, and requires you to install the Xfinity Hotspots app to get the security certificate.

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@andyross wrote:

XFINITY is the encrypted one, and requires you to install the Xfinity Hotspots app to get the security certificate.

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Sounds familiar @andyross .......

@flatlander3 One needs to use the Xfi phone app (as I asked the OP) in order for the certs to get involved.

@EG 

Yep.  Looks that way, I just tested one while out and about. 

NOT using the app, it asks for a username and password.  Put in some garbage just to test it (not a real username or password) Then you get a non-trusted cert error. 

If you have Comcast Internet service, then it needs your Comcast info to authorize you to use their network.

Looks like some app confusion here.  Here are the instructions:

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/download-xfinity-wifi-app-prioritize-home-network

First time you fire up the app:

You have to "allow" the xfinity app to follow you around if you want allow location data (see the map). Welp, that's a big IF......gahd.  You can also use "allow once" each time, and this app might not spin around in the background eating battery and ratting out your location data.

This too:

6. On iOS devices, once you log in successfully (login on the phone app), the app will ask for permission to add Passpoint network. Tap Allow.

Now, when you get close to a hotspot, a banner pops up (If you allowed notifications for the app) asking if you would like to join XFINITY and update your security profile.  If you do that, it adds XFINITY (uppercase, not the lowercase) to your known wifi networks and joins.  iPhone says it's encrypted. 

Join from the app, not from your known wifi networks in settings, and you have to be in range of one.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/internet#xfinity-wifi-hotspots/overview

Make sure you got the right Xfinity WiFi Hotspot app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xfinity-wifi-hotspots/id549643634

Login to the app with your Xfinity account username/password

On iPhone go to settings.  Scroll down to Hotspots

Set Location to "While Using"

Set Notifications to "Allow Notifications"  check lock screen, notification center and banners. 

Turn on precise location from Settings --> Hotspots

Turn on "Background App Refresh" from Settings --> Hotspots

Turn on "Cellular Data"

Open the app.

When you get close to an XFINITY hotspot, a banner will pop up on your phone.  It will say:

"Update Security Profile and connect to XFINITY".

If you do that, it will add the access point and connect if you are in range of one.  If you are not in range of one, it won't .  After you do that, you can connect to XFINITY when it shows up in settings --> WiFi --> other networks.

If you are in another location, and see an XFINITY hotspot come up, it may ask you to update your security profile again and connect to XFINITY again.

If you are currently connected to a different Wifi access point, hit the home button to leave the app in the background after you open it, then in settings, turn wifi off, then back on.  If you are close to an XFINITY hotspot, it will show you the banner.

If you are not close to an XFINITY hotspot, it won't.  Remember this is 2.4G or 5G WiFi, so you have to be pretty close to the access point unless someone setup an outdoor antenna or mesh array at a business.

Also, it appears that residential customers who are using Xfinity gear that allow public wifi connections do not show up on the map, only business customers, so you may be able to find a hotspot even if it does not show up on the app map.  That will be the gateway in someones house, so you'll pretty much have to be sitting in their driveway to use it.....