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To maintain uninterrupted Wi-Fi access, ITS encourages students, faculty and staff to take a few minutes and reregister devices with eduroam before January 23, 2025.

Eduroam is UNC-Chapel Hill’s primary Wi-Fi network and provides a secure and encrypted connection to the University’s resources and the internet.

On January 23, an eduroam certificate will expire and devices — like laptops or smartphones — using that certificate will not be able to connect to Wi-Fi until reregistered with eduroam.

Users who enroll their devices after May 15, 2024, will use a new eduroam certificate and will stay connected.

Five students sit in a semicircle on the grass in Polk Place. Each has a laptop on the ground or on their lap and is connected to campus Wi-Fi
Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill

Reregistering renews certificate for four years

As part of the eduroam enrollment process, you download and install a certificate. That certificate enables the device to validate with campus RADIUS servers before sending user credentials. RADIUS, or remote authentication dial-in user service, is a networking protocol that enables authentication and authorization for Wi-Fi networks.

It just takes a few minutes to reregister devices with eduroam. When you reregister, you renew the certificate on that device for four years. By comparison, UNC-PSK, a Wi-Fi network for devices that are not compatible with eduroam, requires reregistration each academic year.

Periodic reregistration ensures the right people and devices are accessing UNC’s networks.

Strong security

ITS recommends that all students, faculty and staff register their devices with eduroam before accessing University resources because eduroam provides a secure and encrypted connection.

Eduroam uses the strongest encryption and authentication standards available to help keep you — and the University — safe. In fact, some University resources, like Heelmail and network drives, aren’t accessible on UNC’s guest Wi-Fi networks.

Campus coverage and worldwide access

ITS Networking installs, upgrades and maintains more than 12,000 wireless access points all over campus. On a busy day at UNC, nearly 55,000 devices might be simultaneously connected to eduroam.

And when you’re off campus, eduroam’s security travels with you. Because eduroam is a worldwide consortium of networks, you’ll automatically connect whenever you’re in range of an eduroam hotspot — more than 10,000 worldwide. And your credentials are never shared with the hotspot or the eduroam institution you’re visiting.

Even when you’re a thousand miles (or more!) away from Carolina, your credentials are routed through UNC-Chapel Hill to verify your access. This means you only need to trust your “home” eduroam institution — UNC.

 

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