If you’ve traveled to other schools to visit friends, collaborate in research, or take part in a conference, you’ve probably had to track down a guest ID for wireless service. You’ll have to do that less often thanks to a recent enhancement to the University of Iowa wireless network.

This summer, Information Technology Services (ITS) began shifting UI Wireless to eduroam (short for education roaming), an international wireless network available at participating educational and research institutions in 54 countries. Once your device is configured for the eduroam wireless network here, you can connect automatically to eduroam at other participating institutions by logging in with your HawkID followed by @uiowa.edu (e.g. jdoe@uiowa.edu) and HawkID password.

Originated in Europe, eduroam has gained momentum in the education and research communities. It offers a secure connection based on the top encryption and authentication standards in existence today. Having instant access to thousands of eduroam hotspots around the world eliminates hassles for users, and can save students and institutions money by eliminating data roaming charges.

“ITS is pleased to be able to offer eduroam to the University of Iowa,” says Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer Steve Fleagle. “We believe students and employees will enjoy the convenience of logging in with their UI credentials when they travel to institutions that are part of eduroam. It’s also a nice amenity to offer guests from those schools when they visit our campus.”

Several Committee on Institutional Cooperation/Big Ten schools belong to eduroam, including Indiana University, Penn State University, the University of Illinois, and the University of Chicago. Wisconsin and Michigan are testing eduroam, and Michigan State has expressed interest. A list of participating institutions in the United States is available here, and an eduroam international map is available here.

Dozens of tech professionals from across the nation logged onto eduroam while visiting the UI for a higher education IT meeting in June. The IT peers had good things to say about the global network and their experience using it here, and those who aren’t yet part of eduroam are eager to join.

Eduroam is just one example of steps ITS is taking to enhance wireless service for the UI. Demand has skyrocketed since the university launched its first wireless hotspot in 1999. The number of wireless users jumped from 17,000 in 2008 to 30,000 in 2011.

To accommodate this growth, the UI has drastically increased the number of wireless access points on campus, from just 50 in 2005 to 2,800 today.

“Our students and employees live a very connected lifestyle, and we continue to to implement new technologies to provide them with the best possible wireless service,” says Steve Troester, director of network services in ITS. “This switch to eduroam essentially creates an extended campus wireless network, providing the UI community with Internet access anywhere in the world that has eduroam.”

To use eduroam, you must configure your device—and note that if you’re planning to use eduroam while traveling, you must configure it from the UI campus before you go. Eduroam service will not be available within University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics facilities.

If you currently connect via "UI-Wireless-WPA2," you can reconfigure your wireless device anytime this summer to avoid an interruption in service. UI-Wireless-WPA2 will be phased out in the fall, so all users eventually need to switch to eduroam.

To configure your device for eduroam, visit wireless.its.uiowa.edu when you are on the UI campus network. You can also connect to the "UI-Wireless-Setup" network when you are on campus and it will automatically configure your device for eduroam.