Wireless Networking

Where is it Available?

WPI has installed wireless access points in numerous locations across campus. With the proper equipment, this allows wire-free, roaming network and Internet access throughout many locations.

Please note that this is only an approximate list of coverage. Due to the inherently unreliable nature of wireless, the signal quality and data speed will vary widely within a given building based on numerous factors, including the construction of the building, the particular wireless card in use on the client, and radio frequency noise level. Whenever practical, we recommend the use of a wired connection over wireless.

Academic/Administrative Buildings
Building	Speed
28 Trowbridge International House	Full 11n
20 Shussler Road OASIS House	Full 11n
60 Prescott Street	Full 11n
Air Force ROTC	Full 11n
Alden Hall	Full 11n
Atwater-Kent	Full 11n
Bartlett Center	Full 11n
Boynton Hall	Full 11n
Campus Center	Full 11n
Fuller Labs	Full 11n
Goddard Labs	Ful 11n
Gordon Library	Full 11n
Harrington Auditorium	Full 11n
Higgins House	Full 11n
Higgins Labs	Full 11n
Kaven Hall	Full 11n
Olin Hall	Full 11n
Salisbury Labs	Full 11n
Stratton Hall	Full 11n
Student Counselling Center	Full 11n
Wasburn Labs	Full 11n

Residential Buildings
Building	Speed
16 Elbridge	Full 11n
22 Schussler	Full 11n
25 Trowbridge	Full 11n
26 Hackfeld	Full 11n
30 Boynton (East Hall)	Full 11n
Daniels Hall	Full 11n
Ellsworth Apartments	Full 11n
Founders Hall	Full 11n
Fuller Apartments	Full 11n
Institute Hall	Full 11n
Morgan Hall	Full 11n
Riley Hall	Full 11n
Stoddard Complex	Full 11n

Outdoor Areas
Area	Speed
30 Boynton Plaza	Full 11n
Ellsworth Plaza	a/g only
Freeman Plaza	a/g only
Fuller Plaza	a/g only
Football Field	a/g only
Campus Center Lawn	a/g only
Quad	a/g only
Stoddard Plaza	a/g only

What do I Need?

To take advantage of the WPI wireless network, you will need an WiFi compatible wireless network card that has the ability to handle WPA with 802.1x authentication, also called WPA Enterprise. The Wi-Fi Alliance maintains a Certified Products Search Tool that can assist you in finding wireless cards that have passed compatability and compliance testing.

You will need to register the card in the Wireless: Mobile Wireless Systems IP Range through the Network Registration page. (You will need to know your wireless card's MAC address for the registration process. See Finding your Ethernet MAC address for help with this.)

Machines not on the ADMIN domain will also need to get WPI's ESS-ID (Network Name) and certificate files (CCC UNIX username and password required). You will need to enter this information into your wireless card's control panel.

See Configuration Directions for step-by-step instructions for various operating systems.

What kind of encryption does WPI use?

In order to maintain the highest level of security for all users, the WPI wireless network uses WPA2 with AES encryption.

In addition, WPI requires a high level of authentication. Specifically, WPI requires 802.1x EAP-TLS certificate based authentication. This is sometimes referred to as WPA Enterprise. Note that devices which only support WPA Personal or Pre-Shared Key (PSK) will not work on the WPI network.

Which wireless speeds does WPI support?

Standard	Maximum Speed	Availability	Notes
802.11b	11 Mbps	All Access Points	Lowest speed, good penetration.
802.11g	54 Mbps	All Access Points	Good speed, good penetration.
802.11a	54 Mbps	All Access Points	Good speed, low penetration, least interference.
802.11n	150 to 300 Mbps	Limited Support	Best range and penetration, but least support. Go here for more details on 11n.

Please note that these are all theoretical speeds only. Your actual connection speed and throughput will vary widely on a number of factors, including but not limited to your distance to the access point, any physical obstructions, such as walls, sources of RF noise, and the total number of clients connected to the access point. Because of the wide uncontrolled nature of many of these sources of interference, we cannot guarantee any minimum level of speed.

My phone has wireless web... can I use that on the network?

There are two different types of wireless data access that are typically found on phones. The first is data access that uses the same radio component as the voice calls. This includes service such as EVDO and 3G/4G. These services are managed by your cell phone provider.

Some other phones do include a WiFi compatible radio, which may be compatible with the WPI wireless network. The device must support certificate based authentication, and either WPA or WPA2 encryption. While there is no prohibition against using such devices, due to the wide range of different options we are unable to provide any advice or support on purchasing or configuration.

Problematic Devices

While we do not place any particular restrictions on which device may connect to the wireless network (beyond those imposed by the AUP), some devices are known to be incompatible. Typically this is because the device does not support the WPA Enterprise authentication required.

Device	Status	Notes
Nexus 7 Tablet, possibly other JellyBean devices	Requires update.	There is a known bug in JellyBean (Android 4.1) on the Nexus 7 tablet, and possibly other JellyBean devices. This bug prevents authentication on any certificate based wireless network, including WPI. This bug is fixed in the latest update from Google.
Barnes and Noble Nook (all)	Will not work.	While the underlying Android operating system is capable of supporting the security used by the WPI-Wireless network, this support was removed by Barnes and Noble before the device was shipped.
Windows Mobile 5 Phones	Unlikely to work.	Most cannot import the certificates, and those that can do not properly support the high level of encryption.
Windows Mobile 6 Phones	Varies.	Even on phones that can import the certificates properly, many still have buggy encryption drivers that will not work reliably.
Windows Mobile 7 Phones	Will not work.	No support for certificate authentication.
Nintendo Wii	Will not work.	No support for WPA Enterprise. The USB wired Ethernet adaptor will work instead.
Wireless Printers	Unlikely to work	While there are a wide range of wireless printers available on the market, the vast majority of them lack support for WPA Enterprise. In addition, configuring your machine to connect directly to the printer via wireless has been observed to cause problems reliably connecting to the WPI wireless network.

Maintained by webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: Oct 10, 2012, 09:56 EDT