SMU Buildings and Roads has circulated a notice that electrical service will be shut off to several campus buildings as a part of campus construction activities. The shutdown will begin on Thursday, January 19 starting approximately at 7 p.m. and is expected to last approximately 90 minutes. Offices in these buildings should remember to shut down computers and printers before the electrical service being shut off. Continue reading Electrical Service Shutdown to Impact Networking on January 19.
Tag: networking
Getting Connected at SMU
Having trouble getting connected to the SMU campus network?
Here are some quick things to know:
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- High-speed wired connections are available in all residence halls and study rooms, but your devices must be configured to obtain an IP address automatically.
- If you are connecting devices to the wired network or wirelessly via SMU_Guest, these must be registered annually in order to obtain an internet connection.
- The network registration portal allows you to register your devices for use in the residence halls, including gaming devices, Smart TVs, Apple TVs etc.
- Although many printers have wireless print capability, unfortunately, they will not work for wireless printing on campus. This would allow anyone and everyone to print to your printer! Please connect to printers via USB cable.
- PaperCut Pay-for-Print Systems are available at various locations on campus. Find out more here: smu.edu/printing
- PerunaNet is the secured wireless network on campus and is available in all of the residence halls, fraternity houses and sorority houses. Find out more about networking on campus here: smu.edu/OIT/Services/Wireless
- Some devices do not support the security configuration on PerunaNet, so please use the SMU_Guest network to connect these devices (ie. gaming devices and Apple TV).
Have more questions? Visit smu.edu/help.
Nintendos and the Network
As students arrive on campus, they might find some of their favorite gaming devices not being able to get online. Older Nintendo devices, such as the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, & Nintendo3DS, cannot connect to SMU’s wireless network.
OIT’s Networking Specialist Scott Casebere explains.
Wireless networks support multiple data rates (speeds). Your wireless network adapter automatically selects a data rate which will provide you the best possible throughput given your distance from the nearest access point and based on how much interference it is receiving from other devices nearby.
In a large wireless network, when the very low data rates (ie: 1Mbps and 2Mbps) are used by a client, it degrades the performance of all other wireless clients on that same access point. So, in order to provide a better wireless experience to all users and devices, SMU (and any large wireless network provider) must disable these lower data rates to ensure that clients are only using the higher rates.
Unfortunately, the Nintendo Wii, DS & 3DS cannot connect to the network if these lower rates are disabled. It requires the 2Mbps data rate.
Luckily, SMU’s wired network connections allow for these devices to get online. All rooms in the residential commons provide at least one wired jack per bed. These wired connections will even provide faster access and reliability than the wireless connection. While the Wii does not have a built-in wired network adapter, a USB adapter can be purchased from several vendors for less than $20. As for the Nintendo DS, & Nintendo3DS, this option is unfortunately unavailable.
