Beginning Thursday November 18th, Communications and Network Services will begin migrating the academic wireless network at all campus locations to a new Cisco wireless controller. This new system will apply to academic buildings only, and does not include the Residence Halls. Over the course of several days academic buildings will gradually be moved to the new system after 10:00pm at night in order to minimize service interruption. Anyone using the wireless network during these times may experience a brief loss of connection, followed by the need to renew their network settings. This can be accomplished in most cases by rebooting your wireless device and reconnecting.
The new system will not only increase available bandwidth, and reliability but will also offer additional features. When connecting to the new system you will be asked to login via an updated yellow instruction page. The new wireless network has been designed with security, and ease of use in mind. We will now be offering a WPA2 Enterprise “MCC-Crypto” network (SSID) allowing students and staff to connect using an AES encrypted session for devices that support these features. Additionally we’ve added the option for mobile devices to connect to the existing “MCCWLAN” (SSID) as a guest user for those who wish to browse the web only without typing in a username and password.
The following outlines the available options for wireless connections:
MCC-Crypto - This SSID is a more secure encrypted wireless network using 802.1x authentication WPA2 Enterprise, and AES encryption. We recommend using this network if your wireless device can support these standards. A Windows 7 configuration guide is available from the login page on MCCWLAN, the open wireless network.
MCCWLAN - This SSID is an unencrypted and unsecure wireless lan available to devices that cannot support the encryption features above.
Mobile Device Web Only - By clicking the "Mobile Device Web Only Guest Login" button, guests on MCCWLAN will be able to browse the web on their handheld device without logging in. Additional network resources are available by logging into either of the above options.
Campus studies show approximately 42% of the devices connected to MCC’s wireless network are not in use, and connect automatically when in range. You can enhance the wireless experience by turning off 802.11 radios when they aren’t being used. This will also increase the battery life on your wireless device.
James Clement
Communications & Network Services
11/17/2010 |