The university wireless network is available to all EWU students, faculty, and staff. It provides all the conveniences of a regular wired connection without the need for cables. Currently, wireless internet is available in the common areas of the campus buildings and outdoors. The only item you need to connect to the wireless is a laptop or device with 802.11b/g/n wireless capabilities.

The Network

The EWU wireless network is based on the IEEE 802.11b/g/n standard, which operates in the 2.4GHz license-free frequency band. It offers wireless data connections at speeds of up to 11Mbps with 802.11b, up to 54Mbps with the 802.11g and up to 70Mbps with 802.11n.

The Coming Possibilities

We are thinking of expanding wireless to other areas. Your input on where you would like to have wireless available is very important, so please let us know.

Wireless Setup

In order to be able to connect to the wireless network you will need to have the following items and settings:

• 802.11b/802.11g/802.11n compliant wireless
• Network type: Infrastructure
• SSID Campus: Wi-EWU-access
• Encryption: off
• TCP/IP settings: DHCP

802.11b/802.11g/802.11n compliant wireless

You will need an 802.11b/g/n compliant card. When purchasing a wireless card, make sure the card is 802.11b/g/n compliant or Wi-Fi certified. In addition, make sure that you install the latest drivers. Visit the manufacturer's website for information about the latest drivers.

The following set of the instructions deal with the properties of the wireless network card. The location of the network card properties will vary depending on the operating system.

Network Type: Infrastructure

802.11 defines two types of network: infrastructure and ad-hoc. An infrastructure type indicates that your wireless client will connect to the wired network via an access point. Ad-Hoc, on the other hand, indicates a type of network where only wireless clients get to communicate among each other. You must use infrastructure in order to connect to the EWU Wireless Zones.

SSID: Wi-EWU-access

SSID stands for Service Set Identifier. This is simply a name used to identify a wireless network and which wireless clients must use to be able to communicate with an access point. The access points on the EWU Wireless Zones are configured to broadcast the SSID to the wireless clients. Some wireless adapters will allow you to leave the SSID field blank or enter the word "ANY". This instructs the wireless clients to obtain whatever SSID is being broadcast by the access point. You can also set the SSID explicitly. To connect to an EWU Wireless Zone, enter Wi-EWU-access into the SSID field.

Encryption: off

The EWU Wireless Zones do not use any encryption mechanism, therefore it is recommended that you make sure you are on a secure site when you do anything that should be confidential. You can check this by looking at the address (starts https) or by looking for the little lock icon in the lower right hand corner of your browser.

TCP/IP settings: DHCP

There are two ways of assigning an IP address to a network adapter: static or DHCP. EWU Wireless Zones use DHCP. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) refers to the automatic assignment of an IP address. The only thing the user is responsible for is to set the TCP/IP settings on the network adapter to DHCP.

Cisco Clean Access

In order to prevent unauthorized users from using the wireless network, you must first log in using your NetID account. Limited Guess access is provided as well.