A new Wi-Fi system, eduroam, the national cross-campus Wi-Fi network, will replace HU Preferred on Hofstra’s campus by mid-October.
According to Helen Latimer, the director of networks, telecommunications and client services at Hofstra, the university began considering eduroam over a year ago. “Eduroam provides seamless secure wireless authentication to members of the Hofstra community whether on campus or at a participating institution,” Latimer said. “It also provides the same secure access to Hofstra’s wireless services to visitors of member institutions. And the secure authentication is easily established, typically in a similar manner that most users are already accustomed to configuring, which is also beneficial.”
Students can find instructions for connecting to the new network throughout campus in residence halls and on campus bulletin boards. Some students find the instructions to be less than helpful. Gazang Abdulla, a sophomore sustainability major said, “I’m not really sure how to use it. The instructions that were hung on the door in each building were a little unclear to me.”
The process authenticates users by their home institution’s username and passwords. This allows users to log on to an outside institution’s wireless network away from their college or research facility with their home institution information.
John Reagan, a freshman computer science major said, “It’s basically the HU Preferred network but instead of just being on Hofstra I think there’s a few academic sites nearby that also have it, so you only have to log in once.”
Eduroam, short for “education roaming,” is an international service that provides users with connectivity outside of their home institutions, allowing users to connect to wireless networks present in their immediate surroundings. Currently, the roaming service provides connectivity to higher education institutions and research facilities and is present in over 70 countries.
Daniyar Sadyk, a freshman finance major said, “It’s the same, I use it in Miami. But here it’s like switching between two Wi-Fis.”
Benefits include easy access at all participating facilities. The services’ site explains, “eduroam eliminates the need for institutions to grant guest access explicitly.”
Student opinion on the new network is mixed. Bailey Koen, a freshman political science major said, “Well, it doesn’t work. It kicks me off all the time and I have to sign back into HU Preferred, so I don’t like it.”
Seemingly, the problems associated with eduroam are currently due to the continued wireless coverage of HU Preferred. With the past network soon to be transitioned out of Hofstra University’s wireless system, eduroam should operate without interruption.
Still, Christopher Desimone, a freshman business major said, “The whole purpose of them switching from HU Preferred to this new one is that more colleges are switching to eduroam. If you go to, let’s say, Boston College, you would automatically connect to the Wi-Fi. But the thing that’s annoying – it’ll disconnect me automatically sometimes. It’s very annoying you always have to reconnect to it.”