Stay Connected: Your Guide to UMBC Wireless Networks

Stay Connected: Your Guide to UMBC Wireless Networks Retriever Home or Eduroam? Finding Your Perfect Connection

To ensure the best possible connectivity experience on campus, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) recommends two primary wireless networks tailored to your needs.

1. Retriever Home (For Residents Only)

Retriever Home is a secure, encrypted network designed specifically for UMBC residence halls to provide a private, "home-like" experience.

Best For: Connecting all your personal gadgets in your room, including gaming consoles (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo), smart speakers (Amazon Alexa, Google Home), streaming devices (Roku, Apple TV), wireless printers, and mobile devices.
The Advantage: Unlike standard enterprise networks, Retriever Home allows your personal devices to "see" and communicate with each other, making it easy to print wirelessly or use smart home features.
How to Connect: You must log in to myUMBC to generate a unique personal WPA2 password. For easy-to-follow instructions, see our Retriever Home FAQ’s.

2. Eduroam (For All Students)

Eduroam is the preferred, high-speed encrypted wireless network available in all academic and administrative buildings.

Best For: Laptops, tablets, and smartphones used for coursework, research, and general browsing across campus.
The Advantage: It provides robust WPA2 Enterprise encryption for superior data security. Additionally, once configured, your device will automatically and securely connect at thousands of participating educational institutions worldwide without needing new credentials.
How to Connect: Simply run the eduroam configuration tool and follow these easy step-by-step Eduroam instructions to set up each of your devices.

Need Configuration Assistance?

For detailed setup instructions, troubleshooting tips, and FAQs, please visit our official support page at https://help.umbc.edu or contact the DoIT Technology Support Center.

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To ensure the best possible connectivity experience on campus, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) recommends two primary wireless networks tailored to your needs. 1. Retriever Home...

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The Wi-Fi Issue

Affected Service: eduroam Wireless Network

Time of Status Update: Beginning Thursday 7/30

Due to a recent update from an external security provider, some laptops and mobile devices may show an "authentication failure" message when trying to connect to the eduroam Wi-Fi network.

Don’t worry, the eduroam network itself is working fine! Affected devices just need a quick profile update to reconnect securely.

How to Fix It in 2 Easy Steps

If your device is getting an authentication error, follow these steps to restore your connection:

Forget the Network: Go to your device’s Wi-Fi settings and select “Forget” or “Remove” the eduroam network.
Reconfigure: Access the eduroam setup tool available via the Eduroam FAQs to reestablish a secure network connection to all of your devices (macOS, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android, Chromebook, and Linux).

Need Help?

If you need assistance, please contact the Technology Support Center at UMBC Help or 410-455-3838.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

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The Wi-Fi Issue Affected Service: eduroam Wireless Network Time of Status Update: Beginning Thursday 7/30 Due to a recent update from an external security provider, some laptops and mobile...

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Here are 3 reasons why you should be using eduroam instead of UMBC Campus:

1. Quick and easy: Damian Doyle, Director of Enterprise Infrastructure and Support, thinks eduroam is great for everyone. When asked about the main advantages, he said “eduroam can remember your login information allowing your device to automatically connect to the wireless network.” Setup for eduroam usually takes less than 5 minutes and once set up, your computer will automatically join to the network when on campus.

Remember when setting up to use your entire username, so instead of ‘damian’ in the username field, you would use damian@umbc.edu

Example of logging into Eduroam on Mac OS X. Make sure to include the @umbc.edu part in the username field.

2. Security: Eduroam provides a higher level of security than conventional, unencrypted wireless. When using eduroam, all traffic between their devices and the wireless access point is encrypted using WPA2 providing another reason everyone should switch to eduroam sooner rather than later.

3. Availability: Originally developed in Europe, eduroam also supports people in higher education using wireless networks at other higher education institutions. Eduroam has expanded beyond the 1900 institutions using it in Europe to include over 30 countries such as Australia, Canada, and the United States. So any UMBC student, faculty or staff member traveling abroad can use their UMBC email address and password to access WiFi around the world. In Maryland, UMCP, Loyola, University of Baltimore, and JHU have implemented eduroam and you can use their WiFi when visiting those campus.

Connecting to eduroam is fairly straightforward, but if you require more assistance you can check out DoITs extensive FAQs on eduroam.

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Eduroam is a global Wi-Fi network that provides encrypted traffic for any device you use and features a one time setup process that can be used on any campus that supports eduroam, not just UMBC....

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The “UMBC Campus” wireless network will transition to a much more improved network: eduroam. The network provides encrypted traffic for any device you use and features a one time setup process that can be used on any campus that supports eduroam, not just UMBC. UMBC will discontinue the UMBC Campus WiFi SSID name later in calendar year 2015. Eduroam is supported on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

1. Availability: Originally developed in Europe, eduroam also supports people in higher education using wireless networks at other higher education institutions. Eduroam has expanded beyond the 1900 institutions using it in Europe to include over 30 countries such as Australia, Canada, and the United States. So any UMBC student, faculty or staff member traveling abroad can use their UMBC email address and password to access WiFi around the world. In Maryland, UMCP, Loyola, University of Baltimore, and JHU have implemented eduroam and you can use their WiFi when visiting those campus.

2. Quick and easy: Damian Doyle, Director of Enterprise Infrastructure and Support, thinks eduroam is great for students. When asked about the main advantages, he said “eduroam can remember your login information allowing your device to automatically connect to the wireless network.” Setup for eduroam usually takes less than 5 minutes and once set up, the network works flawlessly.

3. Security: Eduroam provides a higher level of security than conventional, unencrypted wireless. When students use eduroam, all traffic between their devices and the wireless access point is encrypted using WPA2 providing another reason students should switch to eduroam sooner rather than later.

It’s not just Doyle who likes eduroam, UMBC students like it too. Aaron David, a senior computer engineer said “I mainly use eduroam since I only have to log in once on a device and then it will automatically connect and authenticate for me from then on. Also, it is encrypted whereas UMBC Visitor and UMBC Campus aren’t.”

Students who need help during the setup process can consult the UMBC FAQ on eduroam. The process however is relatively simple. “In most of our experience connecting to eduroam is fairly straightforward,” Doyle said. “We have a set of videos and tools available on the DoIT website that help people connect. The main issue is that people have to put in the entire username with domain name, so damian@umbc.edu, not just damian,”

“I honestly didn’t use eduroam at first because I didn’t feel like going through the setup process on all of my devices,” said David “but it really isn’t difficult to set up and once it is, you can just forget it and it works.”

UMBC students can connect to an upgraded network, all for free. The transition should be smooth and seamless as Doyle said “ In general we are planning on working through publications, the department IT staff and the Office of Residential life to try and spread the word to migrate folks to eduroam.”

Thumbnail Photo by Dylan Nathan

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The “UMBC Campus” wireless network will transition to a much more improved network: eduroam. The network provides encrypted traffic for any device you use and features a one time setup process...

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