Information Services Knowledge Base

UniWireless

The University of Melbourne’s new wireless network is UniWireless and will replace MUWIRELESS. UniWireless allows students and staff to connect to the network and access University computing resources.

To access UniWireless you will need your central email username and password and a portable computing device, such as a laptop or PDA.

See the Wireless Usage Statistics graph for the daily maximum concurrent connections to the new wireless infrastructure (between 3 May and 5 June).

MUWIRELESS decommissioning has commenced

On the 3rd of July decommissioning of MUWIRELESS commenced. The service will be switched off on a building by building basis, with the final building swithced off by the end of July.

Due to heritage and other building issues, it is not expected that UniWireless will be available in the 1888 building by the end of July. In order to ensure that wireless services are still available in this building MUWIRELESS will continue to be broadcast at this location until such time as UniWireless is installed. Rollout of UniWireless at regional campuses is dependent on the VERN project schedule, and as such MUWIRELESS will also continue to be broadcast at existing regional sites. .

See the coverage pages for up-to-date information on where UniWireless is available.

All students and staff are advised to transition to UniWireless in order to avoid disruption to wireless services.

Resources Available on University Wireless Networks

Internal Resources
Available
Coming Soon
UniWireless MUWIRELESS Visitor eduroam
Internal Websites Yes Yes Yes Yes
Library resources/Super Search Yes Yes No No
Student Portal/LMS Yes Yes No No
File Shares Yes Yes No No
Printers Yes^ No No No
Themis Yes No No No
VPN Yes Yes No No
Telnet/SSH Yes Yes No No
External Resources
Available
Coming Soon
UniWireless MUWIRELESS Visitor eduroam
External Websites Yes* Yes* Yes# Yes#
POP & IMAP Email Yes# No No No
Instant Messaging Yes* No No No
VPN No No Yes Yes
Telnet/SSH No No Yes Yes

Known Issues

As at 2 June 2008

Safari browser crashing when authenticating on external websites

Some users of the Safari browser have experienced crashes when attempting to authenticate on external websites. An investigation is underway into to the cause of the problem. The Firefox browser can be used as an alternative until a fix has been implemented.

As at 24 April 2008

Windows XP – IntelPro Wireless 3945 A/B/G network cards

Some IntelPro Wireless 3945 A/B/G network cards may have difficulty maintaining visibility of the UniWireless network. To remedy this issue users should ensure that their drivers are up to date. To find out what wireless network card you have open your Network Connections (Start – control panel – Network Connections). In the “Details” view check the Device Name column for information about your Wireless network card.

Visit the Intel website http://downloadcenter.intel.com for the latest drivers.

The 802.11b standard is not supported

The following wireless cards are known not to be able to connect to UniWireless:

Older laptops with 802.11b cards are unlikely to be able to connect to UniWireless

The following external wireless cards have been tested and successfully connect to UniWireless. These cards can be purchased for a reasonable price from any local IT hardware store:

Mac OSX - Instant Messaging

Some Instant Messaging applications on Mac OSX are not connecting through the proxy. A fix for this issue is being sought.
Adium is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more. Adium can be used as an alternative for some applications. Visit www.adiumx.com to download the application

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