Wireless FAQs

• Equipment Requirements
• Wireless Coverage Areas
• Wireless Services
• Getting Started
• Authentication & Encryption
• Common Questions

Q. What Equipment do I need?
A. You need a laptop or PDA with an integrated or external 802.11b wireless network interface card.

Q. What kind of laptop and operating systems can I use?
A. Most brands and models of laptop can be used with the campus wireless network. Many models of Dell, Gateway, and Compaq brands have been tested successfully. Windows 2000, XP, and MacOS X operating systems have been tested successfully.

Q. What kind of Network Interface Card should I get?
A. Any Network Interface Card (NIC) that is stated to be 802.11b compatible should work. Internal NICs in Dell and Apple laptops have been tested successfully. External PCMCIA plug-in NICs from Avaya, Linksys, and Cisco have also been tested successfully.

Q. Is there a place on campus to buy external NICs if I need one?
A. Currently the campus bookstore does not stock external NICs. However, most chain electronics retailers (e.g., Best Buy, Circuit City) have them in stock.

Q. How do I set up my laptop?
A. See the owner’s manual to configure wireless radio client settings.

The settings for campus wireless are:

Radio Network Name or SSID:	uncc49er (all lowercase)
Encryption:	Disable WEP or any other NIC related encryptions
Network:	Access Point (if available, not Ad-hoc or Peer-to-Peer)

Q. What kind of PDA can I use?
A. Most PDAs which are equipped with an 802.11b wireless network interface card can be configured and used with the campus wireless network. Toshiba and Compaq devices have been successfully tested.

Q. Where can wireless be used?
A. Wireless computing is generally available in many indoor and outdoor public common areas of the campus.

Q. Do residence halls have wireless access?
A. Currently there is no wireless network coverage in any of the residence halls. Radio signals received in the residence halls are not authorized campus wireless network access points and don’t provide sanctioned services.

Q. What services are available?
A. Internet and e-mail via a web browser (port 80 only).

Q. Do I have access to my network drives?
A. No. Wireless computing currently only provides services via port 80. Access to network drives requires additional ports which are not provided.

Q. Do I have access to the specific departmental resources?
A. In most cases you will not have access to departmental resources unless the information is served via a web server over port 80.

Q. Can I download files?
A. Only files that are transported via web port 80. Many files use other protocols such as FTP.

Q. Can I use peer-to-peer file sharing?
A. No, file sharing uses special mechanisms which are not available via the wireless network.

Q. Can I listen to music?
A. Only songs that are downloaded in their entirety, then played. Streaming is not supported.

Q. Where can I print?
A. Printing via wireless is not supported. It requires the same type of access that is required for connecting to network drives. These ports are not provided.

Q. Where do I begin?
A.

1. Install the wireless network interface card (NIC)and any associated drivers and client utilities. On many PCs this is already installed at time of purchase.


2. Open the wireless client utility (click Start, Programs, etc.) and configure the wireless client for use with the UNC Charlotte wireless network. This only needs to be done one time.


3. Check the following settings for campus wireless:

Q. How do I login to wireless?
A.

1. Start the wireless client.
2. Ensure the uncc49er network is selected, the radio signal is receiving, and is associated with the uncc49er network.
3. Start Internet Explorer or Netscape web browser. Ensure Use Proxy Server is not selected. The browser will be redirected to the UNC Charlotte Wireless Network Login screen if the wireless NIC is configured correctly.
4. Enter your NinerNET User Name and password in the appropriate fields. University guests should enter a valid email account in the field labeled Guest.

Q. How do I set up wireless for a Mac?
A. For OS X:

1. Airport should have a wavelength symbol at the top right of the screen to the left of the clock. The network may be found automatically, so if you see the bars as solid black lines, skip to step 2. If the lines are grey, click the symbol and select Other Network. Type uncc49er in the name field and leave the password field blank.
2. Open Internet Explorer and you will be prompted to enter your NinerNET User Name and password at the top left of the screen.
3. You are logged on the the wireless network. To log off, click the Log Off button in the bottom right of the screen.

Q. How many times do I need to login?
A. Only one login is typically needed per computing session. As long as radio contact with a campus wireless transmitter is maintained, roaming across campus is possible with no additional login or address release/renew. If radio contact is lost, you will have to login again. Suspending/sleeping the laptop while relocating from one building to another will require additional login.

Q. How do I logoff?
A. To end the wireless computing session, click the Click here to Logoff icon in the Logoff popup window. This may have been minimized during the session and is available via the taskbar.

Q. What is authentication and why is it used?
A. Authentication verifies the identity of users and restricts access to computing resources to University personnel, students, and guests only. Authentication occurs when you attempt to login to the wireless network by submitting the NinerNET User Name and password or a valid email account. Once login is approved you are redirected to the UNC Charlotte web page and can browse the Internet.

Q. What is encryption and when is it used?
A. Encryption is a method of coding the data to make it less susceptible to viewing and tampering by undesired parties. On the UNC Charlotte wireless network only the User Name and password are encrypted. Once you are logged on the session is no longer encrypted and any information you view, transfer, or type is susceptible to decoding and viewing.
Note: It is strongly recommended that you do not view or communicate sensitive information when using wireless computing.

Q. Will my User Name and password be protected?
A. Your User Name and password are encrypted and protected against snooping.

Q. What encryption is used?
A. Your User Name and password are encrypted via SSL technology, an industry standard form of encryption. When it is in use you will see a locked padlock icon on your taskbar.

Q. I want to use encryption. Can I turn mine on?
A. Currently, native wireless encryption is not enabled for students, faculty or staff. Faculty and staff members may use VPN encryption to safeguard their data during their wireless session. Check the wireless VPN client instructions for specific steps to install and use the VPN client.

Q. Do I need a firewall on my laptop or does encryption do this?
A. Firewalls do not provide data encryption. Instead, they permit or deny types of data traffic to your PC. A firewall is not required and can interfere with your ability to establish a wireless computing session.

Q. How do I create a secure computing session?
A. Encryption greatly increases the security of your computing session. Only encryption via VPN is supported. This will require the wireless VPN client to be installed and configured on your laptop. This software is available for faculty and staff check-out at the 2nd floor Circulation Desk in Atkins Library. Please bring your University ID.

Q. How do I set up my laptop?
A. Refer to the Getting Started section of the FAQs. See the owner’s manual to configure wireless radio client settings. The settings for campus wireless are:

Q. Who can I call to help setup my laptop or when I have a problem?
A. Contact your local/department IT administrator.

Q. I used wireless before, why won’t it work now?
A. The most likely causes of this problem:

• Loss of radio signal
• Wireless NIC is not enabled
• Incorrect Radio Network Name or SSID is selected or not entered

Q. Why is the wireless connection slow?
A. Wireless technology is a shared bandwidth medium. This means the more users connecting to a single wireless network access point (radio transmitter) the slower performance will be. Performance is likely to improve by reconnecting to a different wireless network access point. Also, check the wireless client utilities to ensure you are receiving a strong signal. Weak signals provide slow performance even if only one user is connected to a wireless network radio transmitter.

Q. As a faculty or staff member, I used wireless in the past. Why doesn’t my Netscape web browser work now?
A. You no longer need to have your browser configured to point to the UNC Charlotte Wireless Proxy server.

Q. Why can I use wireless at home, but not at the University?
A. This is most likely a configuration issue.

• Ensure the wireless NIC is enabled and the Ethernet or LAN NIC is disabled.
• Ensure you have configured and selected the Radio Network or SSID as “uncc49er” (lowercase).
• Ensure that WEP encryption is disabled.

Q. If I suspend my wireless session and continue at a later time, will I have to login again or restart my NIC?
A. The computer stops communicating with the radio network when suspended or put it into sleep mode. If the laptop doesn’t respond for 3-5 minutes, the radio network terminates the session.

When you restart the laptop and web browser after termination, the browser will redirect to the login screen. Enter your name and password. If you can’t successfully authenticate, your IP address lease has likely expired.

Release and renew the IP address via the following commands typed in a DOS window: ipconfig/release, then ipconfig/renew. If this procedure is not familiar to you, it is strongly recommended that you reboot your laptop and then ensure your wireless NIC is enabled.