Student Internet

Free Student Internet

All enrolled UoW students have free internet using UOW Students when using campus WiFi on the Hamilton campus, or when using eduroam at the Tauranga campus, or when using lab computers on both campuses.

UoW Students residing in the Halls of Residence have free internet using UOW Halls when using wired or wireless in their accommodation.

The free student internet service is accessed through the normal proxy log-in option in the computer labs and using the UOW Students (Hamilton Campus) or eduroam (Tauranga Campus) wireless network on personal devices such as your laptop or smartphone.

• Wireless Network
• Setup/Installation files for Windows 7, 8 and 10
• Data
• Wifi Performance issues in Halls of Residence
• MAC Address
• Wired Connectivity
• Halls of Residence
• Support

Wireless Network Access

To access the internet you simply connect your wireless device to the "UOW Students" wireless network on the Hamilton campus, or "eduroam" wireless network on the Tauranga campus, or to the "UOW Halls" wireless network in the Halls. To log in to the wireless networks you need to enter your student username and password however if that doesn't work for some reason use [email protected] (full student email address) in the username field and your student password.

Step by Step Instructions:

Apple:
Apple iPad
Apple iPhone
Apple OSX Laptops

Android:
Android Phone & Tablet
Chromebook 

Windows:
Windows 7
Windows 8 & 8.1
Windows 10

Setup / Installation Files

For standard Windows 7, 8, Vista & 10 desktop computers, laptops and tablets (but NOT Windows Surface RT or Windows phones) you can run the following pre-configured application that will do the setup for you.

UOW Students
UOW Halls

Data

Enrolled students have access to a free, shared internet service via UOW Students (Hamilton) / Eduroam (Tauranga) when using WiFi and lab computers on both the Hamilton and Tauranga campuses (excluding the Halls of Residence). For this service there is a fixed amount of Internet bandwidth for shared use. Students who unfairly use excessive Internet will impact the service for all students, so students are requested to moderate their use.

Students residing in the Halls of Residence have access to a free, shared UOW Halls Internet service in their accommodation. Dependent on the network infrastructure in the accommodation building the network service may be available through wired or wireless networking, or both.

The University is the Internet Service Provider for this free service, as such all internet traffic will be monitored for copyright infringement, file sharing, illegal material and other abuse.

WiFi Performance Issues in the Halls

Some students may receive poor WiFi coverage in the Halls so students are encouraged to use the wired network ports wherever possible.

Our Networks Team are constantly working on improving the Internet reliability in the student accommodation areas but due to high usage, and interference from various types of devices including wireless printers, smartphones set to "Wifi Hot Spot" mode, X-Boxes/Play-stations that have a wireless interface, and other non-University wireless access points you may continue to find the Internet to be intermittently slow.

The WiFi network in the Halls is not like a home WiFi network (i.e. one wireless network router and a few connections), but is a complex mesh of WiFi radio signals using multiple wireless network Access Points (AP's) and supporting heaps of roaming connections. So, if students bring in wireless AP like devices (e.g. wireless printers, using wireless tethering on their laptops or mobile phones - i.e. any device that transmits an RF signal the same as an Access Point - and especially they must NOT connect a wireless router to the wired network ports so that they have their own dedicated WiFi network in their room) then they will degrade the WiFi coverage for everyone around them. Unfortunately, ITS can't help with this, other than advise students not to use these devices.

The wired network ports are definitely the best option for students, so students should obtain Ethernet adapters for their devices that do not have Ethernet network ports.

Other transmitting devices (e.g. blue-tooth keyboards/mice/speakers, game station wireless controllers, etc) and devices that can transmit WiFi interference (e.g. microwaves, cordless phones, etc) can also degrade WiFi performance.

The number of WiFi connections associated with each WiFi AP will also affect the coverage of the WiFi signal by the AP (i.e. as the number of connections goes up the WiFi coverage goes down), so again encouraging students to use the wired Ethernet ports will reduce the number of WiFi AP connections and give better performance for those that have to use WiFi.

MAC Address

See How to Find the MAC Address of Your  Phone / Tablet if requested to do so for troubleshooting.

Wired Connectivity

In some areas (e.g. the Student Centre) there are wired internet connections. These will remain for Lightwire internet only.

Your laptop will need a wired network port and an operating system that is network capable. (most Microsoft Windows versions are). "Networking" on your laptop must be set to "Obtain an IP address automatically". This is the default setting (see below to check this).

To check or to change your computer network settings to "Obtain an IP address automatically":

1. With a "Windows" operating system open the Control Panel and open Network Connections.
2. Right click the "Local Network Connection" window and select "Properties".
3. Then select (click on) "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", and click the Properties button.
4. Ensure that "Obtain an IP address automatically" is selected.
5. Save your settings.
6. Restart your computer.

Halls of Residence

The wired network outlets should not use a network authentication method, see the image below to make sure they are not enabled.

Support

If you are having problems with your own device on the UOW Students, Eduroam or UOW Halls wireless network, please refer to the above instructions first. The Student Centre Tech Desk staff may be able to assist if you are on campus, but only on a 'best efforts' basis. They will also assist with the Student Centre lab computers.

The Service Desk is the first point of contact for all free student Internet-related problems using a University lab computer. The Service Desk is contactable on (07) 838-4008 (ext 4008).

The Lightwire Support Desk is the first point of contact for all Lightwire internet problems. You can contact them at [email protected] or on 0800 12 13 14.

The Lightwire Support Desk primarily supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and OSX devices, but is happy to assist where possible with any other devices.