Wireless 2.0 Information - The next generation of Penn State Wireless
Information Technology Services is in the process of moving towards a prototype service environment of the next generation of Penn State wireless services. Wireless 2.0 technology was initially trialed in a controlled sampling of buildings on the University Park campus to determine scalability, security, and ease-of-use. Specific buildings and areas that were included in the operational trial are located in the Central campus, Shortledge Mall, and East Sub-Campus portions of University Park and include the buildings listed below. The Wireless 2.0 service will remain in these buildings and operate simultaneously with the legacy Penn State Wireless service that uses the VPN overlay for authentication and encryption.
- Willard Building (Entire Building and outside area between Schwab and Carnegie Bldgs.)
- Life Sciences Building (Ground Floor-available in six General Purpose Classrooms, #9 through #14 only)
- Telecommunications Building (Entire Building)
- Thomas Building (1st and 2nd Floors, and outside plaza area between Thomas and Ritenour Bldgs.)
- Business Building (Entire Building and adjacent outdoor areas)
- Ag. Science and Industries (General Purpose Classrooms and Portions of the Ground Floor, 1st, 2nd and 4th Floors)
- Food Science Building (Entire Building and Creamery Outdoor Seating area)
- Forest Resources Building (Entire Building and adjacent outdoor areas)
If you are in one of these buildings, or noted surrounding areas, we encourage you to open up your laptop, search for the psu prototype network, and try out the next generation version of the Penn State Wireless service!
How to get connected
To get connected to the Penn State Wireless 2.0 service, you'll need:
- A Penn State Access Account.
- A laptop with an 802.11 compatible wireless network card.
- Instructions for Windows | Macintosh | Unix/Linux | Apple iPhone/iPod Touch
Features and Benefits
The Penn State Wireless 2.0 service incorporates recent 802.1X wireless authentication and encryption methods that are aimed at enabling an improved level of security and improved performance to include:
- Ease of use. You no longer have to download a VPN or relaunch a VPN session when moving from building to building. Just open your laptop and you'll see the 2.0 operational trial psu network.
- Enables overall improvement of spotty wireless coverage between buildings.
- Requires less client updates.
- More open. Works on more platforms that were previously unable to use the VPN because of proprietary standards.
- Less instances of renewing IP addresses (wireless sessions.)
- Fewer connection and reconnection issues than with the VPN. Instantly connect and reconnect.
- Decreased authentication load and timeout issues.
Tell us your experience
- We'd like to hear about your experience of getting connected to Penn State Wireless 2.0. Please use our feedback form to tell of your experience.
Get Help
- Contact the ITS Help Desks at 204 Wagner Building or 6 Willard Building for assistance. Stop in, call 814-863-1035 or 814-863-2494, or write to helpdesk@psu.edu for assistance.
Technical specifications
The purpose of the operational trial and the continuing prototype environment set up is to test new equipment and technology and the principles associated with Penn State's next generation of wireless services. While the new service is not yet completely defined and in a full production state, many of the basic principles of the service have been outlined including an SSID using 802.1X (EAP-TTLS-PAP) authentication and WPA-TKIP encryption. Because some clients may not yet be able to easily set up, configure and/or support the 802.1X service, the legacy Penn State Wireless service that uses the VPN overlay for authentication and encryption, will continue to operate simultaneously with the .1X service. In the case of the Wireless 2.0 service, the 802.1X network identifier (SSID) is psu and the legacy VPN network identifier (SSID) remains pennstate.