Overview

Available wifi networks on campus

The recommended network for staff and students is eduroam.

Eduroam in York city centre

Eduroam is available in York city centre, allowing staff and students to connect to wifi when out and about in York.

Once your device is set up to use eduroam, it will connect automatically when you're near wifi hotspots in the city centre.

Please note: the network in the centre of York is not an extension of the University's wifi network. For security reasons, facilities that are only available on campus will not be accessible. However, you can use the Virtual Private Network or Virtual Desktop Service to access these resources.

Eduroam at other universities

You can use your York username and password to access the internet at participating organisations:

• World map: where can I eduroam?
• List of UK institutions

Please check that you can connect to eduroam at the University of York before visiting another organisation.

If you need any help connecting to eduroam, please contact the Library & IT Help Desk.

Setup guides

Loading the setup tool

The setup tool will attempt to load automatically when you open a web browser. If you prefer, you may load the tool manually.

Manual setup

If the automatic setup doesn't work on your device, try the manual setup guides:

Access your filestore (H: drive/My Documents)

Find out more about filestore

Printing

Find out more about printing

Help & troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

If you can't get connected, please see our step-by-step troubleshooting giude:

• Troubleshooting

System requirements

To connect to the wireless network you will need:

• a computer with an 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless LAN card or integrated wireless network adapter
• a network client that supports 802.1X/PEAP/MS-CHAP-V2 authentication (most operating systems include this as standard)

Wireless vs wired

The wifi speed depends on many factors, including levels of usage, and the device being used.

A wired connection will always provide better reliability and faster speeds.

Games consoles

To connect to the wireless network at the University, a console will need to support WPA2-Enterprise. This information should be available in the product description for the console.

Some games consoles that do not support WPA2-Enterprise can be set up to work on the wired network in study bedrooms on campus. For more information, please see:

• Wired network: students

Other wifi devices

Modern phones, tablets and computers will connect to our wireless or wired network using enterprise authentication known as 802.1X (on wifi this is sometimes called WPA2 Enterprise).

Wifi devices that don't support 802.1X can't connect to our wifi. However, some devices, such as games consoles, may work when connected to the wired network (see above).

As a general rule any device designed for a domestic setting and controlled from a phone or tablet also won't work.

For example, you can't use the following on eduroam:

• media devices such as Sonos audio systems
• Apple AirPlay
• Google Chromecast
• NOW TV
• smart domestic devices such as wifi kettles and wifi lightbulbs (eg Philips Hue)
• Nintendo DS
• early models of the Amazon Kindle
• wireless printers (but you can turn off the wifi and use the USB cable)

If in doubt, before purchasing or bringing a device to campus it's always worth contacting IT Services to check if it can be supported.

Areas not covered by wifi

If you find an area that is not covered by eduroam, please let us know. We will investigate whether we can extend coverage to that area. This can typically take up to five weeks to put in place. Please note, this will be subject to buildings restrictions (eg asbestos, building fabric issues, listed status).

Library & IT Help Desk

If you're having problems using wifi, get in touch with the Library & IT Help Desk.

Our commitments

Your responsibilities

Terms and conditions

This information is intended to supplement the University's terms and conditions:

• York local acceptable use policy

To help us keep the network running smoothly, please note the following guidelines.

If you have any questions about appropriate use, or whether it's ok to connect a device to the network, please contact us for advice.

Don't set up or enable personal hotspots

Many mobile phones and other devices allow you to create a personal wifi hotspot, usually using your 3G or 4G network. We ask you not to use this facility while on campus. Personal hotspots interfere with the campus wifi, causing significant local disruption.

Using Bluetooth

Please minimise your use of Bluetooth devices on campus, especially indoors. Bluetooth uses the same frequencies as wifi, and can cause local disruption to our wireless network.

Prohibited devices

You are not allowed to use any of the following on the campus network. They can cause significant disruption and/or pose security risks.

• switches and repeaters (network "hubs") not installed and managed by IT Services
• network routers of any kind
• any device which can provide DHCP services or otherwise offer IP addresses - this includes:
  • personal and domestic routers
  • personal firewall devices
  • personal hotspots such as MyFi devices
  • laptops or PCs set up to provide Internet Connection Sharing or its equivalent
• wireless access points or repeaters not installed and managed by IT Services
• wireless printers
  • you may use a wireless printer if it's connected via a USB port and the wireless functionality is switched off

Connecting devices in study bedrooms

We may allow you to register certain types of non-802.1X-capable devices for use with the wired network in study bedrooms. These devices can include:

• games consoles
• set-top boxes
• Network Attached Storage devices
• Internet TV devices

In exceptional cases, a small switch may be permitted within a single study bedroom. You must obtain prior permission from IT Services.

Please contact the Library & IT Help Desk for more details of these exceptions, and how to request them.

Network location

On first connection, Windows users will be prompted to choose a network location.

We strongly recommend you choose Public network. This stops your computer from being visible to other computers around you (eg other people using eduroam).

Depending on your security settings, choosing one of the other options may result in other people being able to see your files.