UIS was the first public University in the State of Illinois to implement wireless networking throughout its campus. The wireless network is available in all academic and administrative buildings, all student apartments and residence halls, in recreational facilities, such as the gymnasium and soccer stadium, and in outdoor "gathering spots" like the HSB plaza, the cafeteria patio, and Patton Park.
The wireless network complements the campus-wide "wired" network. The wireless network allows persons using laptop computers equipped with wireless network cards to connect to the campus network without the need to physically attach to the network.
The wireless network offers several benefits to the campus community. Virtual computer labs can be created in any classroom by rolling a cart of wireless-enabled laptop computers to the room. Students can gather in comfortable surroundings and collaborate on class projects. Students in science labs can use a wireless laptop to log the results of their experiments and store the results on a network server. Research via the Internet will be possible from wireless-enabled computers.
The Cisco wireless equipment operates in the 2.4 to 2.497 GHz range. Unfortunately, that is also the frequency range used by wireless equipment from other vendors and some cordless telephones. The likelihood for interference between these devices is quite high and would significantly compromise the effectiveness and integrity of the campus wireless network. For that reason, wireless networking equipment other than that installed by Information Technology Services and cordless phones operating at 2.4 GHz will not be allowed on campus. Most cordless phones in use on campus operate in the 900MHz range and do not present a problem. Check the specifications for your telephone if you are in doubt as to the frequency range in which it operates.
Your computer must have either a removable wireless network card or an integrated wireless card to access the wireless network.
Wireless networking is inherently less secure than wired networking. In a wired network environment network information travels through a network cable where intercepting or eavesdropping requires effort and equipment. With a wireless network, information travels through a broad, unrestricted area and can be intercepted from the air by anyone sharing the same access point. No encryption is automatically applied to wireless transmissions and WEP [the standard wireless encryption protocol] has proven not to be secure. In order to protect important University information and user information, such as user names and passwords, from being intercepted, UIS has implemented the use of a VPN server
When you connect using the VPN server you will have access to University resources and the Internet gateway. To connect to the VPN server, you must install VPN client software on your laptop. To download the VPN client and be authenticated by the VPN server you must have a valid UIS Network ID. [If you are a guest on the campus and want to use wireless access, we have guest wireless access VLAN that allows access to the internet without installing the VPN client.] The campus has a Cisco site license for VPN clients for Windows, Mac, Linux and are available for download.
