Support - How Do I . . .?

Denison's wireless network supports 802.11b and 802.11g wireless protocals.

In order to connect to the wireless network you must have a wireless network card that (at a minimum) is 802.11b compliant. Most wireless cards that are available today are 802.11b/g wireless cards. This means that wireless card supports both protocols 802.11b and 802.11g. Your computer and/or wireless card documentation will tell you if your card is 802.11b compliant.

There are other wireless protocols that our wireless installation does NOT support. The most common protocols that our system does NOT SUPPORT are: 802.11a, bluetooth, wi-max, and 802.11n among others.

We are striving to bring wireless to 100% of Denison's primary campus. This goal, however, will take time to achieve. We have come quite a ways toward this goal, however, so it is easier to say where you will not be able to connect to the wireless network then it would be to say where you can.

 The following locations are not in our plan for wireless coverage this year:

• Denison Biological Reserve
• Denison Homestead
• Denison Physical Plant
• Denison Steam Plant
  

Wireless coverage is intended to cover all the remaining areas of campus.   As of the start of school 2006 our wireless deployment is a work in progress.  We have verified a series of locations with poor or no wireless coverage.  These areas will be addressed in the coming months.

There are many security problems associated with wireless networks. The main issue with wireless security comes from the fact that all wireless networks are a broadcast technology. A computer on a wireless network shouts out all information it sends wirelessly and wireless access points shout out all information being sent to the computers connected to them. Anyone within a certain range of your computer and/or the wireless access point you are connecting to can listen to, save, review, and replay your wireless communication. It is important to consider this when using a wireless network.

To combate this users of any wireless network should use some basic security features.  Using a VPN client will help protect your personal information.  You can also help protect your information by using secure webpages (their address starts with https, and most browser diaply a lock icon).

Our wireless sytem supports 802.11b and 802.11g wireless protocals in most areas.  Some areas, because they are far away from the nearist wireless access point, or have an older access point, work better when using 802.11b rather then 802.11g.  End devices like Laptops, PDA's, etc. will often try to use the 802.11g wireless connection at all costs in areas that are better served by 802.11b.

To help improve the coverage area your device receives we suggest you try setting your wireless card to "802.11b only" or "prefer 802.11b".  This may or may not improve your wireless coverage area, it really depends on each individual device, but it is a sound step to take if you are experiancing coverage problems.

Because there are many different wireless card manufactures and different operating systems that these cards run on it is impossible to provide instructions on how to make this change for each of these devices.  We suggest you check your wireless cards documentation (this can usually be found online at the manufactures website) to Identify how to make this change to your wireless network card.

Any device that runs 802.11b or 802.11g and has a browser that enables you to log into our wireless gateway device will, in theory, work on the wireless network.  Denison, however, does not support or help troubleshoot the connectivity of these devices to the wireless network.

The installation of the wireless network this past summer was geared at providing basic funtionality such as email access, basic web page surfing, streaming of small video or audio files, and access to Novell drives on OS X and Windows XP laptops.

Because smaller devices, like PDA's, do not have the same bradcasting power as laptops; the areas where this equipment is able to use the wireless network is limited.