Wi-Fi6 IMPLEMENTATION

NEIT is in the process of upgrading our campus Wi-Fi network to Wi-Fi 6 technology. The upgrade will take place in two phases:

Wednesday, December 22, 2021 – NEIT’s Wi-Fi network will be unavailable at all campuses and buildings for upgrades and testing.  Access Road and CT campuses will be fully upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 by end of day.  At the East Greenwich campus, the Richard Gouse building will be mostly or entirely upgraded by end of day.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021 – January 6th, 2022 – The remainder of the Richard Gouse building and Meltzer Residence Hall access points will be upgraded to Wi-Fi 6.

What is changing?

  1. All campus locations will be upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 hardware.
  2. A higher density of access points is being installed in academic locations to improve coverage and performance.
  3. NEIT will be introducing a new encrypted network, NEIT-Secure for improved security. Devices connected to NEIT-Secure must support WPA2-Enterprise/802.1X.
  4. NEIT will be removing the NEIT and NEIT-ResNet Wi-Fi networks on December 22nd.

How will this impact you?

  1. Students may choose between the new encrypted network, NEIT-Secure, and NEIT’s open network, NEIT-Guest.
    1. Devices connected to NEIT-Secure must support WPA2-Enterprise/802.1X.
    2. Devices which do not support WPA2-Enterprise/802.1X must be connected to NEIT-Guest. Most IoT devices and gaming consoles DO NOT support WPA2-Enterprise/802.1X.
  2. Students connecting to NEIT-Guest will work the same as connecting to the old NEIT/NEIT-ResNet
  3. Connecting to NEIT-Secure will require entering your NEIT email address and password. Further information can be found at https://dots.neit.edu/BYOD.
  4. NEIT provided devices should automatically switch to the new network. If it does not, please contact the help desk.
  5. Faculty and staff are required to use NEIT’s new encrypted network, NEIT-Secure.
    1. Faculty and Staff BYOD devices must support WPA2-Enterprise/802.1X.
    2. Faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to test your devices on NEIT-Secure before classes resume in January.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Will I need to re-register my devices? Devices which were previously registered and active will not need to reregister but they will need to authenticate when using NEIT-Secure.
  2. Will I need to register my devices when using different Wi-Fi networks? No, devices registration is universal across NEIT’s Wi-Fi networks.
  3. What is the difference between NEIT-Secure and NEIT-Guest? NEIT-Secure provides encryption of the traffic between the client and the access point and requires authentication to the Wi-Fi network using your NEIT email address and password. NEIT-Guest does not require authentication to the Wi-Fi network and it DOES NOT encrypt the traffic between the client and access point.
  4. Why must Faculty and Staff use NEIT’s encrypted network? Faculty and Staff often handle protected information which is covered by NEIT WISP and/or regulation. To ensure the protection of this information and compliance with regulations, Wi-Fi connections for endpoints must be protected by encryption.
  5. What if my device does not support WPA2-Enterprise/802.1X? Please contact the helpdesk.

Authentication VS Registration

  1. Authentication is the process of proving your identity when connecting to NEIT’s network. NEIT-Secure is the only network which requires a user to authenticate upon connection.
  2. Registration is the process of associating your devices with your user account. Registration is required on all wireless networks and in the Meltzer Residence Hall. Devices must only be registered once.

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