Dominican University Wireless Connections
Dominican University provides the following wireless connection options for Administrative and Academic Areas:
- DU Wireless - All students, faculty and staff should utilize the DU Wireless connection. DU Wireless offers an encrypted connection with unrestricted Internet access speed. To join the secured DU Wireless, all students, faculty and staff will need to provide their username and password at first connection. Visit our Instructions on connecting to DU Wireless if you'd like step by step assistance.
- DU Guest Wireless – Guests visiting Dominican University that do not have a Dominican University account may connect to the DU Guest Wireless connection. This wireless connection is non-secured and heavily throttled to a reduced Internet connection speed. Please remember that all users with DU logins should use DU Wireless.
- Restricted Wireless - The Restricted Wireless connection would be used in specific and limited cases only at the direction of the Information Technology Department. Users should not attempt to connect to Restricted Wireless without instruction from IT.
- DU Owned Wireless – The DU Owned Wireless connection is not visible or capable for individuals to join. This connection is only for all DU owned (on domain) devices and they will automatically join this secured connection based on our management policies. No action is required, however, if you reviewed the wireless connection name for any DU owned laptop, you may notice this connection name.
Dominican University provides the following wireless connection options for all Resident Hall Areas:
- DU Resident – This encrypted wireless connection is available for all laptops/tablets/smart phones utilizing your Dominican University username and password.
- DU Public Resident – This open wireless connection is intended for guests and devices that do not support authentication with a user name and password such as printers, gaming systems, and media streaming devices such as Chromecasts and Apple TVs.
We urge Resident students to use DU Resident whenever possible, so please try it first with your device. If it does not support a connection, you may utilize the DU Public Resident connection.
Connecting to the DU network with your personal equipment
Dominican University uses a network authentication and validation security system called SAFECONNECT. This system protects your computer by preventing infected computers from accessing our network and your computer. All access via our public places, whether wireless or a data jack will require the authentication. The client is a software download for your machine. Follow the steps below.
- Connect to wireless and launch a browser
- Download the agent
- Undergo validation
The software checks your machine to Identify:
- Antivirus software is installed, valid and up to date. (DU offers free anti-virus to students)
- Automatic updates are enabled in windows
- Windows is up to date: service packs and critical updates.
To ensure a quick connection to DU’s network, make sure your antivirus and windows updates are completed, before you bring your computer to campus. If you cannot connect to the network, please call the Support Center to make an appointment for a technician to assist you. The staff of the Information Technology Department cannot work on personal computer equipment for any reason, other than to assist in getting your equipment attached to the network. We do have additional documentation available to assist with connections available at the Support Center and on DUIT.
Best practices for student device connections in Resident Halls
The following recommendations by device type will help to ensure all students experience the best possible wireless connections while living in campus Resident Halls.
- Laptops/Tablets/Smart Phones
- We urge resident students to use DU Resident whenever possible, so please try it first with your device.
- Wireless printers
- The University does not support personal printers. There are public printers available on campus for all faculty, staff, and students. Students who wish to print to a University printer, please visit the Student Printing Guide. Students may also install DU Printing on their personal computers to send print jobs and securely release at any campus printer.
- For students that have purchased wireless printers to use in their resident hall, ensure it is not wirelessly broadcasting. When a printer is broadcasting its own ‘ad hoc network,’ it interferes with the wireless signal broadcast by the DU network. As a result, wireless printers can significantly disrupt your and others wireless experiences in residence halls. Follow one of the processes below to avoid interference with wireless.
- Use a printer cable to connect to the printer. Even after the printer is wired to your computer (via USB), it may continue to broadcast its own 'ad hoc network’ so ensure the wireless functionality is switched off.
- Connect your wireless printer to the DU Public Resident connection. Many wireless printers will automatically disable its ‘ad hoc network’ when connected to our wireless network. Please check in the settings however that it is not broadcasting after connecting.
- Please remember, in order to ensure a better wireless experience for everyone in your residence hall, you will need to disable the wireless connectivity of any wireless printers in your room. While directions will differ among different manufacturers and models, this can usually be done by opening the printer settings or clicking the wireless button on the printer and disabling it through an interface.
- Routers/Access Points;
- Wireless routers are not allowed in the resident halls. As such, IT may shut down your connection if an interfering device is found. If you are experiencing a weak signal from the DU Resident Wireless network, please contact the IT Support Center and we will assist you.
- Gaming systems and Media devices (Apple TV/Chromecast)
- Any of these devices that will not support a connection to DU Resident with your username and password can be connected to DU Public Resident. Media devices should not broadcast their own ‘ad hoc network’. By joining DU Public Resident, many types of media devices typically stop broadcasting their own network. However, you may need to manually disable any ‘guest’ modes for the media streaming device.