J. Wayne Reitz Union
Educating Leaders for a Global Community
The J. Wayne Reitz Union at the University of Florida announces that many public areas around the Reitz Union are now connected to the campus wireless network. Wireless networks give users mobility and flexibility by enabling them to access campus network services without being tied to a physical location. Users with the necessary equipment are now able to access the campus wireless network from the Reitz Union Colonnade, the South Terrace, Game Room, the Blue Room Lounge (between Taco Bell and the Game Room), the 1st Floor Information Desk, and the 2nd Floor Colonnade Meeting Rooms. In the near future, users will also be able to access the wireless network from the Food Court, Student Activities Center, the Rion and Grand Ballrooms, and most other meeting areas.
You will need to have a computing device (e.g., laptop, PDA) capable of utilizing a wireless adapter card and a wireless adapter that supports the IEEE 802.11b standard and is Wi-Fi compatible. Some computing devices are now coming with wireless capability built in, in this case you don't need a separate adapter card. You will also need a valid Gatorlink account User Name and Password to be able to authenticated. This can be obtained from the Information Counter in the Career Resource Center.
There are many other brands of wireless adapters. Companies that make compatible products include 3Com, Apple, Lucent, Compaq, Dell, Linksys, and many others. If you use another brand of card it should support the 802.11b standard. Additionally the product should have the 'WiFi' logo. All devices that are WECA approved should carry the WiFi logo. There are many types available and some are much less expensive. As long as they are 'WiFi' compatible they should work. The potential downside is that they may not access the network at as high a speed and advanced features like roaming may not work as well.
The University of Florida is using the Cisco Aironet 350 Access Points so to take full advantage of all the performance features that may be available a Cisco Aironet card is recommended.
You may need to install the TCP/IP protocol on your device if it's not already installed. If you already have it installed you should make sure it is configured to automatically detect it's settings via DHCP.
You can examine the current configuration of your wireless client by opening the client configuration utility and selecting properties from the menus at the top of the window. This area allows you to configure settings such as the Service Set Identifier (SSID), power output, and if WEP is to be used or not.
You should not have any entries for SSID. The campus configuration broadcasts the SSID value which the client should detect and use automatically. If you have a specific SSID entered it may prevent you from attaching to the campus system. In some cases users may have an SSID entered here if they were using their wireless connection somewhere else (home, office, another campus, etc.) It is also possible that some client adapters may require and SSID (which they may also call a Network Identifier or some similar term). If for some reason you need to have this set the campus system is using an SSID of ufw. The Cisco client allows the entry of multiple SSID entries so you would then enter the SSIDs of the other systems you intend to access as well. Other brands of clients may organize these settings by profiles.
The setting for WEP security should be turned off. If you have WEP enabled you will not be able to associate with the campus system as they are not configured to use WEP encryption.
Additional troubleshooting information is available here.
The campus wireless network is being provided by the Network Services department of the Northeast Regional Data Center (NERDC). Additional information about the campus wireless network is available at net-services.ufl.edu/provided_services/wireless/background.html.
Free walk-up ports to connect laptop computers to the campus network are available in the Student Activities Center on the 3rd Floor and the Blue Room Lounge between the Game Room and Taco Bell.
Please note: You must have a valid Gatorlink account to use walk-up ports in the Reitz Union.
Using Walk-Up Ports:
For further assistance, please contact the UF Computing Help Desk at 392-HELP.
