To ensure the best possible connectivity experience on campus, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) recommends two primary wireless networks tailored to your needs.
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.
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.
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.
]]>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.
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).
If you need assistance, please contact the Technology Support Center at UMBC Help or 410-455-3838.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
]]>I wanted to thank everyone for the quick feedback as we worked through WiFi Issues on Monday that affected several lecture halls and large classrooms.
We made changes to the wifi devices in these spaces throughout Monday to resolve the connectivity issues we saw in the morning and afternoon. The problems were largely due to a problem with the network not automatically scaling in response to the demand. Our staff was able to troubleshoot the problem and make a number of adjustments to the system late in the day. These adjustments allowed us to force the devices to increase their power and capacity, ensuring everyone could access the wireless during their classes.
Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday we met with faculty just before class to check in, and had staff sitting within the classes to monitor and check on the adjustments we had made. We observed much better performance, and confirmed with faculty and students on both days that they were able to access the network during class without issue.
While I regret that the issues on Monday occurred, I really appreciate the cooperation and willingness to help us get this resolved quickly. We are going to continue monitoring classes in these spaces to ensure everything is working smoothly over the next week. I would encourage anyone who experiences issues to submit a ticket via myUMBC Help so we can address your issue as quickly as possible. I'm also happy to provide more details on the changes and adjustments we made to address this issue if folks are interested, my email is listed below.
To the entire UMBC community, thank you for all of the communication, feedback and partnership getting this resolved. I'm sorry for the inconvenience it caused.
Damian Doyle
Senior Associate VP and Deputy CIO
DoIT - UMBC