Technology Services
Student-Owned Wireless Routers
As of September 2009, the University of Montevallo provides both wired and wireless networking in the residence halls (Brooke, Hanson, Lund, Main, Peck, Residential College, Tutwiler and Wallace).
Rules for Use of Personal Wireless Routers in UM Residence Halls
Note: Some of the following rules require you to have a working knowledge of the operation of your wireless router. Given the great diversity of wireless products available today, Technology Services cannot provide detailed instructions on how to follow each of these rules. However, your router's documentation should have complete instructions.
- Register Your Router With Housing
Students who wish to setup a wireless router in their residence hall room are required to register the router with the Office of Housing and Residence Life.
- Give Your Router a Unique Network ID (SSID)
Your router will come out of the box with a default network name, also known as an SSID. If two or more people living in close proximity in a residence hall have bought the same brand of router and have left their routers set to the default network name, they will likely start interfering with each other.
To avoid this problem, students who setup their own wireless routers must give their routers a unique name based on their building and room number.
Example: If you live in Napier 101, give your router the network name Napier101.
- Set an Administrative Password for Your Router
Many routers will come with a default administrative password or no password at all. In order to protect yourself and the rest of the campus, you must connect to your router and set a new administrative password.
- Turn Down the Power of Your Router
Multiple routers in close proximity will interfere with each other. Usually they are set by default to transmit their signals at a very high level. Given the relatively small size of most residence hall rooms, this default signal level is much too high. Students should turn down the strength of their wireless router's signal so that it is available in their own room but not their neighbor's. You may have to try various settings before you find one that works best.
For further information, contact the Technology Services Help Desk. The Help Desk is available by telephone at (205) 665-6520 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or (866) 520-2401, toll free. You can also send an email to helpdesk@montevallo.edu.
Revised May 2010