Information ServicesWireless network in residences

Most general purpose devices such as Windows and Apple laptops and mobile phones should be able to connect to eduroam.

Most other mass-market commodity devices are not designed to be able to operate on an enterprise-class wireless network such as eduroam. This includes:

• gaming consoles (Xbox, PlayStation)
• online media players/TV streaming devices (Amazon Fire Stick, Roku, Chromecast, Now TV)
• wireless printers
• digital assistants/Smart speakers (Amazon Echo, Google Home , Sonos)

If you have one of the following devices, you can register it with us to use the Strath-iot-stu wifi network:

• Sony Playstation 4
• Microsoft Xbox
• Nintendo Switch
• Various wireless smart TVs
• Amazon Echo

This is not a comprehensive list, and other devices may also be able to use Strath-iot-stu, so please contact us to check. To register, please email help@strath.ac.uk with the following information:

• DS username
• email address: 
• residence block/flat/room
• type of device
• wireless "MAC" address of your device

A phone could also be used as a "hotspot" – that is, operating it as a wireless access point that bridges traffic to mobile data (3G, 4G) connection. Use in this way will consume part of the device’s data plan allowance. Be aware that there are limited frequencies over which wireless access points can operate, and they have the potential to interfere with each other. Using a phone as a hotspot will potentially add to this interference.

Given the wide variety of devices available globally, we cannot guarantee that every device will be able to connect to Strath-iot-stu. We are investigating other potential solutions.

No. There is no infrastructure to provide a service for wired connections.

Purchase a USB Wi-Fi adapter (or ‘dongle’) and connect it to the desktop. Then configure using the usual method for a Windows or Apple laptop.

Lack of coverage may indicate a fault, or an oversight. If a bedroom does not appear to receive good coverage, then please report to help@strath.ac.uk. The room number and contact details will be required.

Also, if the signal was previously fine but appears to have become worse, this should be stated. Upon receipt of the report, Information Services will investigate. They may need to gain access to the room to conduct tests.

No. This would count as "Unauthorised additions and modifications to the network infrastructure", which is expressly forbidden in the University’s Network Connection Policy.

At present, there is no per-user data limit for use of eduroam.

Not explicitly. However, neither is it supported, and there are technological barriers to connecting some gaming consoles to the wireless network (see other questions).

Any activity that disrupts use of the network for study purposes is not permitted, however.

Most connection problems are caused by not entering the required username correctly. The following are common errors:

• incorrect password
• entering email address instead of DS username
• mis-spelling strath as starth, srath or stath
• trailing space on the username
• rather than @strath.ac.uk, specifying an incorrect domain part. The following and similar are all incorrect: @uni.strath.ac.uk, @uni.strath.ac, @strath.uni.ac.uk, @strath.co.uk

Having checked for all the above, if there are still connection problems, contact help@strath.ac.uk. For a ‘regular’ device such as a laptop or phone, it will probably be easier to physically visit to work through the setup.

Contact IS Enquiries. The following information may need to be supplied:

• room and hall/block
• type of device
• username
• MAC address of the devicedescription of the symptoms
• how many "bars” of signal strength
• when the problem started
• whether same device works in other locations such as other halls, University buildings

Each device is different. We have MAC address guidance for some devices, or you may want to try a Google search for the device type and "mac address".

eduroam is a modern enterprise-class wireless network offering robust security and client protection (technically, "802.1X WPA Enterprise security").

The wireless service is provisioned by wireless access points (WAPs), which are distributed around the residences. The WAPs meet the 802.11ac standard, which at the 5 GHz frequency band can deliver over 1000 Mb/s to a fully capable device under absolutely ideal conditions. In practice, there are many limitations that mean a more realistic maximum to a single device is of the order of 100 Mb/s. All devices connected to the wireless access point share this capacity, so the actual "speed” experienced at any time to any particular one of them is generally less than this (see later question on wireless performance for more information).

Some devices are only able to operate in the legacy 2.4 GHz frequency band. The speed available to such devices is much less, and the potential for interference much more.
As an attempt to provide some meaning to these figures:

• 5 Mb/s is recommended for HD streaming from Netflix
• 3.5 Mb/s is recommended for HD streaming from Amazon Prime
• 1.5 Mb/s recommended for an HD Skype video call
• 300 kb/s minimum for a Skype video call
• 256 kb/s is recommended for streaming from Apple Music
• 160 kb/s for high quality streaming from Spotify

Note that where devices are being used for online gaming, other than for download of updates, a more significant factor affecting the gaming experience is the latency (also referred to as round trip or "ping” time). Because of the nature of the wireless medium, an additional 10ms could be added to the round trip time experienced by a wired device in a similar part of the network. However, this round trip time could be quite variable, decreasing and increasing due to changing factors in the environment such as people going by, and other devices consuming some of the WAP resources. This variability is called "jitter”, and can also affect the gaming experience.

Yes, but it must be able to work through a NAT (Network Address Translation) service. Additional configuration may be required to achieve this.

Different VPN clients work in different ways, and not all have been tested, so the experience may be vary for different users.

There are a number of factors which affect the performance a device will experience from the wireless network. These include:

Capabilities of the device (modern laptop PCs are generally more capable than cheaper or older mobile phones):

• distance from device to WAP
• obstructions between device and WAP (walls, people)
• interference to wireless signal (from other WAPs, hotspots, mechanical systems such as lifts, microwaves, general electromagnetic "noise”)
• number of users on the connected WAP and what they happen to be doing

While WAPs try hard to give a 'fair' amount of the available 'duty cycle' to each device, a device that is downloading a large amount of data is likely to gain more of the duty cycle for that operation to the detriment of other connected users.

Each WAP is connected to the enterprise wired network at 1 Gb/s; each network switch supporting a cluster of WAPs in a residence block is connected to the distribution router at 1 Gb/s. The router is connected to the core network at 2x 10 Gb/s. The core network is connected to the Internet at 10 Gb/s. The wireless controllers through which traffic flows are connected to the core network at 10 Gb/s.