This note will try to address some of the confusion over wireless access on campus, and guide you to campus resources to make the most of what is available to you.

 Why so many UMD WiFi networks?

Depending on the kind of wireless device you use, you might see up to four wireless networks when on campus.  These are:

• umd
• umd-fast
• umd-secure
• umd-secure-fast

The differences between the networks aren’t obvious just from looking at the network browser when configuring your computer.  Here’s a quick guide to the differences between the networks.

Speed:

• umd and umd-secure are 802.11b/g networks, and should be visible to everyone with a WiFi card or other WiFi device.  Though 802.11g is theoretically capable of 54Mbps, since it is shared with 802.11b it will most often only run at 11Mbps.
• umd-fast and umd-secure-fast are 802.11a networks, and will only be visible to people with devices compatible with that less common spec.  However, as it doesn’t have to offer backwards compatibility with slower networks, it will always run at 54Mbps.

 Authentication:

• All networks use the University Directory username and password for authentication.
• umd and umd-fast require you to open a web browser before doing ANY other kind of network activity on the wireless network.  So, if you were going to check email through a mail client when turning on your computer, you still will need to open a web browser FIRST and log in before you can use the network.
• umd-secure and umd-secure-fast use 802.1x for authentication.  Your University Directory username and password can be stored in the 802.1x configuration for your network card so that you don’t need to manually log in each time you wake up your networked device.  Beyond the benefit of this convenience, the traffic between your device and the access points will be encrypted.

The configuration of 802.1x is a little complicated, but if you carefully follow the directions published by the campus you will save a lot of time over the long run by not having to reenter your login information over and over again.  The directions for configuring 802.1x can be found at http://www.oit.umd.edu/nts/noc/wireless/connect.html.