Wireless Access Points in UW Residence Hall Rooms

Housing & Food Services is working with UW Technology to explore UW-supported wireless networking in the future, but it is not available at this time.

Non-wireless High-speed Connections Already in Place

As a residence hall member, you currently have:

Fast, reliable connectivity to the campus network and the Internet via data ports (10/100Mb Ethernet) in your room
Technical support from UW Technology staff for this networked connectivity

Do-it-yourself Wireless Responsibilities and Policies

You do have the option of installing your own wireless network. However, be aware of the following before you decide to install your own wireless access point (WAP):

Having multiple WAPs near each other in the residence halls often means you will experience interference and unreliable network connectivity.
You provide your own technical support for installation, configuration, and ongoing maintenance.
You must comply with the network security policies of the University of Washington. (This means you are responsible for managing the security and activity of all computing devices on your wireless network.)

If you are willing to assume the above responsibilities for your own wireless network, please review the policies and specifically note that:

Providing an open network connection that could be publicly accessed is prohibited
You must insure that your wireless network meets the security requirements outlined on the Web page above

Configuring Your Wireless Access Point

You must configure your wireless access point (WAP) according to the following specifications:

Connect to the wall data port via the WAN or UPLINK port on your WAP. If your WAP has multiple Ethernet ports, it is essential that you use the WAN (Wide Area Network) or sometimes the UPLINK port when you connect your WAP to the wall data port. Connecting your WAP via a LAN (Local Area Network) port can cause serious network problems such as preventing you and other students in your residence hall from connecting to the network.
Use minimum power to reduce interference with other devices. In a residence hall, an access point that provides wider coverage (because of protocol or antenna choices) may experience decreased performance due to interference with other access points.
Have a unique SSID. The name of your network (the SSID) must be unique to avoid conflict with other networks. In order to insure uniqueness between your network and other resident hall networks, consider using your name (or nickname) plus your room number.
Use encryption that will require a password to connect (WEP or, preferably, WPA).
Use hardware (MAC) address registration. This involves modifying the WAP's configuration by entering the hardware address of each device you want to allow to connect.
Keep the firewall function turned on (if available).