Using the ACCC UIC Public Wireless Network

• What it is.
• What you need.
• -- What about handheld devices (PDAs, Smartphones, etc)?
• -- What about Linux?
• UIC-Wireless Wireless Cards.
• Who to see.
• Guest UIC-Wireless Access

The ACCC is in the process of installing a wireless network in the public areas at UIC. The UIC-Wireless public network may be used by members of the UIC community at no charge. The specific type of wireless network we're using is now 802.11g. Students must pay the Res-Net charge, however, to use the UIC-Wireless network in the UIC residence halls; this part of the UIC-Wireless network is not public.

Unfortunately, 802.11g networks are inherently insecure and don't have workable provisions for limiting access to groups of authorized people (members of the UIC community in this case). For that reason, we are adding a wireless connection and security solution to the mix. SecureW2 (for MS Windows) or Mac OS X 802.1x client (for Macs running Mac OS X, version 10.3 and higher) and working with specialized server software provides authentication -- ensuring that only authorized users can connect to the wireless network and assuring users that they are connecting to the correct network -- and encryption -- providing private data transmission -- for the UIC public wireless network.

• Either: A laptop running Windows with:
  
  
  1. A 802.11g wireless network card that must support 802.1x and EAP-TTLS. (802.11b cards will no longer work.)
     
     
  2. SecureW2 client software for XP and Vista, for connection and security, free from ACCC. SecureW2 is open-source software; they ACCC distributes a copy pre-configured for UIC-Wireless in the University of Illinois Webstore.
     See: Installing and Using SecureW2 for Windows.
     
     
• Or: A Mac laptop running Mac OS X 10.3.x or higher; nothing lower will work, with an AirPort or other supported wireless card.
  See: Using the Mac OS X 802.1x Client
  
  
• A UIC netid and password for user authentication.
  
  
• To be close enough to an ACCC public wireless access point.
  See: Public Access Point Locations
  

• For Windows Mobile devices, there is SecureW2 for Windows Mobile.
• For iPhone, see our iPhone Web page.
• Instructions for connecting on campus with Google Android smartphones are at Connecting to UIC-WiFi with Android.
• Currently, we know of no method for connecting Palm, Blackberry, or Nokia devices that are not running Windows Mobile to the UIC-Wireless network. We apologize for the inconvenience. Blackberries running OS 6.x -- including the Blackberry Playbook -- can connect to the UIC-WiFi network (and also eduroam) because they support PEAP + EAP-MS-CHAP-v2 for inner link security.

There isn't a version of SecureW2 for Linux, but Linux machines with many types of wireless cards can be configured to connect to UIC-Wireless. But please understand that the ACCC does not support connecting to UIC-Wireless with Linux.

The UIC Linux Users Group has documentation and will help with UIC-Wireless connections. See the UIC ACM site, http://acm.cs.uic.edu/, and, particularly, the UIC Linux Guides.

The wireless cards that you can use to connect to UIC-Wireless should support 802.11g or 802.11n. They must support 802.1x with EAP-TTLS. A wireless card must support 802.1x and EAP-TTLS (PAP) to work on the UIC-Wireless network.

802.11g is an IEEE standard for data transmission on wireless networks. 802.1x is an IEEE standard also, for authentication (ensuring that only authorized users can connect to the network and assuring users that they are connecting to the right network) and encryption (providing private data transmission) on wireless networks. EAP stands for Extensible Authentication Protocol; EAP-TTL S(PAP) is the specific protocol by which our servers negotiate your 802.1x session. 802.1x works on 802.11g wireless networks (and also on wired networks).

The list of "supported wireless cards" for Macs is a lot shorter than for Windows; see Using the Mac OS X 802.1x Client.

What about Wi-Fi? Is that what I want? Well, sort of. The official definition of Wi-Fi is any 802.11 wireless network. We now use 802.11g, so yes. But most people use Wi-Fi to mean 802.11b, which we don't support anymore. And even if it were, we have the 802.1x and EAP-TTLS requirement, too. You must make sure you card supports all three:

• 802.11g 802.11n of wireless networking, and
• 802.1x and
• EAP-TTLS for identification and authorization, with PAP for inner authentication.

If you have any problems with your wireless connection see, call, or email the ACCC consultants, contact the Client Services Office, SEL 2267, (312)413-0003, consult@uic.edu, or see the lab consultant if you're near an ACCC public lab.

I have guests coming to campus; can I arrange for them to use UIC-Wireless? Casual guests, no, but people coming to campus on official UIC business can have a guest UIC-Wireless account to use while they are here. See your department's Reach Representative.