MacBook users rejoice: The Wi-Fi in college dorms just got much more stable for Apple products.
An alternate WiFi network, “Resnet_Test,” has been installed in the dorms, after a security upgrade created connection problems for some Mac computers.
In fall 2015, information technology services upgraded the security of Hillsdale’s “Resnet” Wi-Fi networks in residence halls from simple password protection (a technology known as “Wired Equivalent Privacy”) to an encrypted system called “Wireless Protected Access.”
WPA encryption makes it more difficult for hackers to steal personal data by using an algorithm to encode data as it moves between computers and routers. Although it is more secure, it caused problems for some students’ Apple computers.
“Apple devices, many of them, did not play well with the WPA security on the access points in the dorms,” ITS Network Systems Manager Patrick Chartrand said. “It would work for a little while, and then it would die, and you couldn’t get back on. Very annoying, kids hated it — I don’t blame them. I hated it, too.”
Eventually, ITS discovered that many Apple computers were not optimized to work with the WPA encryption, Chartrand said.
“Apple’s well known for this; they don’t always follow the preset rules,” Chartrand said. “They kind of do their own little proprietary thing. So a manufacturer builds to a spec, and Apple’s over here, and they don’t just mesh up quite right.”
Chartrand said ITS is communicating with Apple to try to fix the problem. In the meantime, however, they have installed a secondary network.
The Resnet_Test networks are protected with WEP, not WPA encryption, so Apple devices will have no problems connecting to them. Because WEP networks must use a 10-digit password, the two networks will require different passwords to connect. For now, Chartrand said the Resnet_Test password is simply “0123456789.”
Chartrand said if Apple doesn’t fix the problem on their own, they will likely stick with the two-network solution, renaming them “Resnet Secure” and “Resnet Insecure.”
“Here, the risk is minimal,” Chartrand said. “You’re fine using it with or without the encryption here.”
