Eduroam helps Rice faculty, students, staff connect when traveling

To paraphrase a popular low-cost airline, “You are now free to roam about the continents.”

Rice has joined Eduroam, a simple, safe, convenient and collaborative wireless network service that gives Rice staff, students and faculty traveling abroad free, seamless access to the Internet at other Eduroam-participating universities. They just need their Rice NetID and password. And guests from other Eduroam institutions will be able to make use of Rice’s wireless network to gain access using their own university’s login credentials. It’s like having one large, worldwide wireless hotspot.

“Unlike in the U.S., many countries do not have open wireless networks everywhere,” said Kamran Khan, vice provost for information technology. “To get wireless access in Europe and Asia, you have to have an account through a local service provider. Now that Rice participates in the Eduroam service, Rice users can configure their wireless devices to connect to Eduroam and enjoy free Internet access at participating higher education networks around the globe.”

To connect to Eduroam, configure a new wireless network with an SSID of Eduroam. When your wireless device is within range of an Eduroam participant, you can connect to the network by logging in with your Rice NetID and password.

“The advantage includes joining thousands of Eduroam hotspots without data roaming charges and is based on secure encryption and authentication standards,” said Barry Ribbeck, director of systems, architecture and infrastructure. “Once this is configured, you are good from any participating location.”

Eduroam is available in more than 60 countries around the world, including the United States, China and Saudi Arabia and countries in Europe and Latin America. A list of Eduroam participants around the world is available at www.eduroam.org/?=where.

Anyone planning a trip abroad who wants help setting up their laptop, tablet or cellphone to use Eduroam can visit the Help Desk in the Mudd Computer Science Building.

For more information on Eduroam, visit www.eduroam.org or contact Ribbeck at Barry.R.Ribbeck@rice.edu.