New wifi service at USM coming in Febuary

By: Alyson Peabody, Staff Writer

A new Wi-Fi service called eduroam will be offered to USM faculty, staff and students starting Feb. 4. All that is required to access the new service is to sign in on their device using their USM credentials. Kim Tran, Campus IT Officer and Director of University Card Services, sent an email to students about this change on Dec. 11.

The benefits of this new service are that eduroam is easy to use, secure and is enabled for the future. Once a mobile device is connected to the system, whether it is Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android or Linux, it will securely and automatically connect. Tran said that it is no longer necessary to search for an available network or to enter credentials upon every use.

“As you on-board your device using your UMS credentials, a unique certificate is generated and saved on your device,” Tran informed. “From then on, every time you connect to the eduroam service, this certificate is quickly and securely validated to allow the device access.”

There are 617 institutions worldwide that successfully use eduroam. With ongoing Wi-Fi infrastructure upgrades, eduroam will provide the USM community with improved service and a greater user-friendly experience.

Tempest is the temporary wifi connection that is available until eduroam is ready to use. Students, staff, and faculty can refer to wifi.maine.edu or contact the Help Desk at [email protected] for help connecting to the new system. Their desk can be found on the third floor of Glickman Library on the Portland campus.