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Wi-Fi

Guest Wireless Registration

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NACS now offers faculty and staff the ability to sponsor temporary wireless guest access. Guest registration is intended for use by faculty and staff who need to temporarily enable wireless UCInet network access for visiting colleagues.

To add temporary guest registrations, visit the current registration page:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/mobile/registration.html

Click on the “Register to use Mobile Access” link, login with your UCInetID and password, and click the “Add Guest Registrations” link. You may register up to 25 systems. You may then select an expiration date of one day, one week, or four weeks hence.

For more information, please visit the UCInet Mobile Access main Web page at:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/mobile/

Or, for additional help, please call or email NACS.

UCI Ranked “Most Wireless”

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A recent survey ranks UCI #14 among universities responding to a recently completed survey on wireless networking.

Intel’s “Most Unwired College Campuses” survey ranks the top 100 schools for wireless computing access. The survey reveals a growing number of schools across the country where students have the freedom to wirelessly access the Internet on notebook PCs — without a traditional wired connection — and stay connected and informed whether they’re in the dorm room, library or outdoors at the campus quad.

While Intel’s focus was on students, NACS has made wireless networking a priority in recognition of its value to both the research and instructional roles of the university.

BioSci Gets High-Speed Wireless

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In partnership with Biological Sciences (Bio Sci), NACS recently completed the installation of UCInet Mobile Access wireless networking in McGaugh Hall using a new higher speed wireless network technology called 802.11g (“11g”). This is the first 11g service installed at UCI.

The 11g technology can perform up to five times as fast as the 802.11b (“11b”) wireless technology used at UCI until now. Another advantage of 11g is that it is “backward compatible” with 11b network cards, so computers that have worked at other UCI wireless sites will still work at BioSci (albeit at the slower speed). NACS will soon be installing 11g in Steinhaus Hall.

UCInet Mobile Access

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The UCInet Mobile Access service is an extension of the campus network which supports wired and wireless portable computer network connections in numerous locations across the campus.

Around campus, particularly in classrooms and computer labs, open network jacks are managed through UCInet Mobile Access. Using the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), network addresses are issued dynamically (on request). UCI campus users are required to register the networking device they will use before connecting to UCInet at a wired Mobile Access connection point as well as in any campus wireless access zone.

UCInet Mobile Access uses an authentication scheme based on Media Access Control (MAC) addresses. A MAC address is the hardware address of the Network Interface Card (NIC) of your computer. You need to have this number while registering for the UCInet Mobile Access network and campus-wide DHCP services. Help is available online.

NACS is currently focusing on common areas where people are likely to use wireless. New coverage areas are being added on a regular basis. NACS wants to know where you would use wireless networking.

UCInet’s wireless mobile access service uses the IEEE 802.11b (“Wi-Fi”) wireless networking standard and supports connections from network cards conforming to that standard. This is a shared network technology. Like all shared networks, these networks should be presumed insecure. The Virtual Private Network (VPN) may be used to create a secure connection from UCInet Mobile Access.

NACS provides other services to help our clients with their wireless network needs. These include: free consulting, needs assessment, site survey, design, cost estimation, installation, and maintenance, and opportunities for cost sharing of equipment.

For more information, please contact NACS at nacs@uci.edu.

For information on UCInet Mobile Access
http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/mobile/

For the latest in wireless coverage 
http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/mobile/locations.html

For email updates on wireless coverage 
https://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/ucinet-wireless

For help registering your wireless network card 
http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/mobile/registration.html

For more information on the VPN 
http://www.nacs.uci.edu/security/vpn.html

For free assistance with your local wireless equipment
http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/mobile/consultation.html

“Wireless Web” Services for Handheld Devices

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If you have a web-enabled wireless device, you can access some of NACS’s services while mobile.

Many devices such as cell phones and PDAs (e.g. Palm Pilot or PocketPC) advertise a “wireless web” feature. Such devices contain a web browser that understands web content which is written in WML (Wireless Markup Language). As these devices typically have much slower data speeds and less memory than a standard PC, WML content is tuned to their small screens and limited data speeds.

With NACS’s WML home page, you can search for someone’s phone number in UCI’s phone directory, read email with Webmail or check your CorporateTime calendar, all from your cell phone. (“Wireless web” features often come with a supplemental service fee. Contact your service provider for information on fees and access coverage.)

To take advantage of these NACS services, point your web-enabled device to: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/wml/