Knowledge Base
Although there is wireless throughout campus, most of the residential areas on campus do not have wireless capability. To take advantage of wireless on campus or to connect multiple devices in their residence halls students may purchase a router. These are common devices used in homes with high speed connections such as DSL and Cable Modems. These devices are designed to be used in homes with one single connection from the phone or cable company in relatively private locations. They create a private personal network within your room (or the wireless range).
Routers can still be used on campus, but just require a few simple protective steps:
You may find it helpful to have your router's documentation on hand. If you lost it or left it at home, simply go to the support website of the manufacturer (such as linksys.com, netgear.com, smc.com etc) and search for the model number (such as "MR514v2") and you should be able to download a digital version of it.
- Plug the router's power plug in, but keep it disconnected from your room's internet jack for now. Plug your computer's network wire into any of the LAN ports on the router. Log into the router's configuration utility and locate the MAC Address of the router. If you don't know how to do this consult your Router's documentation. To have internet on campus, the unique identifying number (MAC address) of the device must be registered to a user on campus. This can be called the Ethernet Address, Internet Address, or WAN (Wide Area Network) Address. You do not want the LAN address (this stands for Local Area Network). The MAC address should be a 12-digit sequence of numbers and lowercase letters a-f in sets of 2 (for example 00:03:93:1f:1a:55). Any Os are zeros, as the highest letter used is F.
- While still in the router's configuration utility, enable wireless encryption (also called security). This ensures that no one is using internet in your name unless you specifically gave them the password. Unsecured routers are at greatly increased risk of viruses, network abuse violations, and bandwidth violations. By registering your router you are held responsible for all traffic going through it, even if it is someone 3 floors below you. If your router supports WPA encryption use that, if not use WEP 128 bit encryption. If you don't know how to do this consult your router's documentation.
- Change the router's password. Routers come preconfigured with a default password. Change to something you can remember so your router doesn't get messed with by someone with too much time on their hands.
Before using any of these devices please go to netreg.uconn.edu and register your device. You are expected to setup your device as specified on our web page to ensure appropriate use.
- Plug the router's internet (or WAN) port into the wall and reboot the router. Because routers are designed for homes, they provide internet to all the computers in the private network and allow them to connect to the internet through one internet port. Because of this, the ports serve different purposes. It is very important that you connect the the University network jack to the WAN or internet port on the back of your router. If you plug the public network (the wall jack) into your private network (any of the 1-4 LAN ports) your router will begin trying to provide everyone in your area of campus with a connection. This causes a host of problems for all your neighbors and your room's internet will be shut off for their protection.
Do not plug into Uplink if your router has one, as this is an extension of your private network and has the same effect for your neighbors as the LAN ports.
Wireless Links
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