eduroam - End User Benefits
This document describes the benefits of using eduroam vs other networks like UWNet by answering some key questions.
What is eduroam wireless (education roaming)?
- Eduroam is a secure world-wide network that acts as a large hotspot for the educational community
- Eduroam is made possible by a federation of servers that allows you to connect to the wireless network at participating institutions
- Eduroam is easily accessed and only requires your NetID and password to connect
Why is eduroam more secure vs other wireless networks like UWNet?
- Eduroam provides increased security via secure network protocols such as 802.1x
- Wireless networks like eduroam use end-to-end encryption to prevent people from seeing your wireless traffic unlike networks like UWNet
- When you connect to eduroam at another institution, your credentials are sent securely back to UW-Madison where they are authenticated
Why should you choose eduroam?
- You can feel confident that your data is secure when using eduroam due to the use of some of the most secure encryption standards
- US eduroam institutions
- Eduroam is ever growing as more hotspots are being added around the world and are appearing in more types of locations as well (libraries, coffee shops, museums)
- Eduroam is widely available in over 78 countries!
- Eduroam is cross platform and can be used on Windows, Apple OSX, a vast majority of mobile devices, and Linux distributions
- Eduroam requires minimum configuration to setup and access, and allows people like traveling faculty, staff, study abroad students, and students visiting for NCAA events to easily access a secure network
If you have any questions regarding Eduroam or want more information, please feel free to contact the DoIT Helpdesk.