MedEd Division of Medical Education
Educational Computing

Access to UCSD Wireless Network

Wireless access service for Campus and Medical Centers is provided and managed by the UCSD.  To help you configure your computer or portable device, EdCom provides the following information. UCSD faculty, staff, and students must have a Username and PasswordExternal Site / New Window. If you intend to use the wireless network at least once every 30 days and/or share your laptop with others, you may want to register your wireless network card. This authorization is good for one year before you will have to renew. Users who do not register must reauthorize more frequently.  To register your network card: http://www-no.ucsd.edu/ono-cgi-bin/etherform/wirelessform.pl External Site / New Window


Connecting your laptop - Campus

Wireless networking encrypted with Wi-Fi Protected Access-Enterprise (WPA-E/WPA2-E) External Site / New Window technology is recommended for faculty, staff, and students with Active Directory External Site / New Window (AD) usernames and passwords, and will be mandatory by mid-fall 2009. Encrypted wireless connections make it more difficult for others to "listen in" on your wireless conversation. The service cannot encrypt our data through all the paths it travels, but it does offer a more secure connection.  Directions for connecting to the UCSD wireless network depend on platform and operating system, please refer to the campus documentation below:

Windows 7

Windows Vista External Site / New Window
Windows XP External Site / New Window

Mac OSX 10.5.x External Site / New Window
iPhone External Site / New Window
Ubuntu 8.10 Linux External Site / New Window


Connecting your laptop - Medical Center @ Hillcrest

See Wireless How - To Procedures External Site / New Window   for instructions.


Connecting your PDAs and other devices (including cameras, temperature sensors, etc)

  1. Try the encrypted wireless instructions (above) first, if your device uses one of the operating systems listed.
  2. If your device does not use the above operating systems, but has WPA-E or WPA2-E capabilities, try to access the "UCSD-PROTECTED" network using your Active Directory External Site / New Window (AD) username and password and the instructions that came with your device.
  3. If your device cannot use WPA-E or WPA2-E, follow these instructions:
    • Register your device External Site / New Window with the UCSD hostmaster. Make sure to check this box: My device is UNABLE to use WPA-E/802.11x.
    • You will receive an e-mail confirmation from the UCSD hostmaster. You are now authorized to use the "UCSD" wireless network without authenticating.
    • Configure your device with this information:
      -- Network name/SSID: UCSD
      -- Mode: Infrastructure
      -- Encryption: disabled

Access for guests

The UCSD guest wireless network is an unencrypted service. As a guest using this service, you can:

  • Browse the web, including webmail (e.g., gmail)
  • Use VPN External Site / New Window to access your home institution
  • Use SSH

For security reasons, you cannot use standalone e-mail clients on this network.

To connect as a guest:

  1. Select the UCSD-GUEST wireless network.
  2. Open your browser and bring up a website.
  3. Follow the instructions to enter your e-mail address and accept the Terms of Use.
  4. Click Guest Login.
  5. You will be connected to the requested Web site within 2 minutes.

You will be asked to re-enter your e-mail address daily to continue using the network.

Developed by the UCSD School of Medicine, Office of Educational Computing
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