Using Wireless in the College of Engineering and at K-State

If you already have a wireless laptop or other device (Top)

If you already have a wireless laptop or other Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) 802.11b compliant wireless device, use the following settings to access the Fiedler Library wireless LAN:

• Set Public Access or transmit key to 40 bit encryption.
  (must enable WEP/Wired Equivalent Privacy)

• Configure your wireless network card driver to obtain an IP address automatically from the network. The DHCP server will issue you a lease for a valid IP address and will automatically supply correct values for IP netmask, gateway, and DNS nameservers.

If you need to buy or configure a wireless card (Top)

If you need to buy a wireless card, consider the following points:

• Many wireless cards will work, but at the present writing (November 2001) K-State CNS plans to support the wireless cards of only two vendors: Cisco and Lucent. If you have a card from one of these vendors, K-State CNS will be able to provide user support, assistance with configuration, troubleshooting help, etc.
• Whichever wireless card you select must support:
  • The Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) standard of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), for compatibility with other vendors' IEEE 802.11b compliant products
  • The WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) date encryption standard.
  
  
• In tests by the College of Engineering Computer Services staff we found that our sample Lucent Orinoco PC Card (Gold Card) had better reception in fringe areas than the LinkSys Instant Wireless Network PC Card (WPC11). In strong signal areas (in Fiedler Library, for example) both cards performed equally well.
  Note: We do not officially endorse or recommend any particular vendor's products.

• Apple AirPort
• Cisco Aironet Cards (CNS's Wireless Page -- click on "card setups")
• LinkSys Instant Wireless Network PC Card (WPC11) (Not officially supported by CNS)
• Lucent Technologies ORiNOCO PC Card

Wireless coverage maps for the College of Engineering (Top)

Fiedler:

Lower Level (B&W)

Main Floor (B&W)

2nd Floor (B&W)

Durland/Rathbone:

Lower Level (B&W)

Main Floor (B&W)

2nd Floor (B&W)

3rd Floor (B&W)

Important things to know about wireless LANs (Top)

• Privacy and security

  All data you send and receive on a wireless LAN can be seen by anyone. Encryption does not help, because the encryption key is common to all users so all users see the packets as if they were unencrypted. The encryption key is a "secret" available to anyone and everyone at K-State - not a secret at all. In effect, wireless LAN systems provide no inherent privacy protection. Users of wireless LANs should make the prudent assumption that they have no privacy protection for data transmitted or received over the wireless link.
  
  

• Bandwidth and speed

  Wireless LANs have limited, shared bandwidth and will be slower that a network cable connection to a wall outlet.

  Fiedler Hall wall outlets are capable of 100 Megabits/second, fully switched and full duplex. "Switched" means your 100 Mb/sec bandwidth is yours alone and is not shared by other users. "Full duplex" means transmit and receive streams can run at full speed simultaneously.

  The Fiedler Library wireless LAN (and all IEEE 802.11b compliant wireless LANs) has a maximum capacity of only 11 Megabits/second. This capacity is shared by all wireless users, reducing your effective bandwidth below 11 Megabits/second. Your wireless card may autonegotiate a lower data rate (5.5, 2 or 1 Mbit/sec) to adjust to local reception conditions in your location, further reducing your bandwidth. Finally, the overhead from encryption will take up about half of whatever bandwidth is available. For these reasons, wireless connections are inherently slower than wired connections.

Using other wireless LANs on campus (Top)

There are many other wireless LANs in campus managed by K-State CNS, e.g., Hale library (multiple locations), K-State Union (Little Theater, Food Court, Union Station), Waters Hall, Anderson Hall, College Court (multiple locations), Calvin Hall, Fairchild Hall, and the K-State Foundation Center.

These CNS wireless LANs use the same standard K-State SSID and WEP encryption keys as the Fiedler Library LAN. However, some of the buildings do not have Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers - so you will need some other method of obtaining a valid IP address for that building, such as contacting a computer systems administrator in the building, or contacting the K-State iTEC help desk.

In addition, there are "private" wireless lans, set up and managed by departments or other organizational units. The CIS wireless LAN in Nichols Hall is an example. In these locations, you will have to contact a local LAN administrator with any questions about using their wireless services.

How to get help using wireless LANs (Top)

For help for the wireless LAN in:

• Durland/Rathbone/Fiedler
       College of Engineering Computing Services
        532-7632 or 532-4643, help@engg.ksu.edu
            -or-
       K-State's Computing and Network Services:
       785-532-7722 networks@ksu.edu
  
  
• Nichols
       Computing and Information Science (Nichols Hall):
       532-6350, help@cis.ksu.edu
  
  
• CNS-managed wireless LANs in other buildings
       K-State's Computing and Network Services:
       785-532-7722 networks@ksu.edu

Links to K-State CNS web pages on wireless LANs (Top)

• CNS Wireless Pages
  

Feedback about this page (Top)