The University of Washington wireless (Wi-Fi) service is designed as a primary access method to UW networks for students, faculty, and staff. UW-IT provides Wi-Fi coverage inside most buildings as well as some outdoor areas on all three UW campuses, research areas at South Lake Union, and UW Medicine hospitals and clinics.
Overview of UW Wi-Fi and How-to Connect
UW Information Technology (UW-IT) offers three Wi-Fi networks for the UW community:
Eduroam
The eduroam network is an encrypted Wi-Fi network available at the UW, and it is the preferred Wi-Fi connection method for UW students, faculty, and staff.
The eduroam network is a general-purpose Wi-Fi network using private IP address space and WPA2/WPA3 Enterprise encryption. It is available at UW Campuses, UW Facilities, UW Medical Centers, and other eduroam connected institutions around the world.
Users need to onboard their devices using the SecureW2 onboarding tool provided through UW’s onboarding process to gain access to this Wi-Fi network. SecureW2 supports most common devices and will help ensure that your device is properly and securely configured for eduroam. For more about SecureW2 click here.
UW’s onboarding information is available via the Eduroam page. UW-IT recommends connecting to the eduroam Wi-Fi network for the added security of encrypted data transmission and roaming.
Once the device is onboarded, the user simply selects the eduroam SSID to connect.
More information about Eduroam and Eduroam onboarding is available on the Eduroam page.
If your wireless device does not have a Web browser (e.g., some phones, printers, etc.), consider manually registering your device for use on the secure, encrypted UW MPSK Wi-Fi network: manual device registration page.
- Wi-Fi Network Information:
- SSID: eduroam
- Type: 802.1X EAP-TLS
- Encryption: WPA2/WPA3-Enterprise
UW MPSK
The UW MPSK network is an encrypted Wi-Fi network available at the UW, and it is the recommended Wi-Fi connection method for IoT, TVs, and game consoles and other ‘headless devices’ (i.e., without a keyboard) that require a Pre-Shared Key Wi-Fi network.
The UW MPSK network is a special use Wi-Fi network using private IP address space and WPA2 Personal encryption. It is available at UW Campuses, UW Facilities and UW Medical Centers.
Users need to register each device before accessing this Wi-Fi network. Visit the Manual device registration page.
NOTE: be sure to turn off the use of private MAC addresses or MAC randomization; these features cause the MAC address to change over time and will cause Wi-Fi access to fail unexpectedly.
Future access to UW MPSK will automatically connect as long as the network is in range.
For more information about UW MPSK, see the UW MPSK page.
- Wi-Fi Network Information:
- SSID: UW MPSK
- Type: Pre-Shared Key
- Encryption: WPA2-Personal
University of Washington
The University of Washington network is an unencrypted Wi-Fi network available at the UW. It is only recommended for devices that do not support eduroam or UW MPSK. This network is also used for devices connecting for the first time so they can access UW eduroam onboarding without logging in. University of Washington is considered the “network of last resort” for UW Faculty, Staff, and Students.
The University of Washington network is a general-purpose Wi-Fi network using private IP address space. It is only available at UW Campuses, UW Facilities, and UW Medical Centers.
When a device first connects to this network, a captive portal splash page is presented in the user’s browser. If you are not selecting the Eduroam onboarding option, select the “Continue login” button to proceed; you will need your UW NetID. Once authentication is successful, the device will be registered and allowed access to the network.
If the UW NetID login page does not display, open a web browser and go to a basic, un-encrypted website such as example.com. This should redirect you to the UW netID login page.
For more information about the University of Washington wireless network, see the University of Washington Wi-Fi page.
- Wi-Fi Network Information:
- SSID: University of Washington
- Type: Open System Authentication
- Encryption: None
Visitor Access
For more detailed information see “Wi-Fi Access for Visitors“.
The preferred methods of connecting to UW’s wireless services, in order by network SSID, are as follows:
- eduroam using credentials from visitor’s home institution (where applicable);
- eduroam using credentials from anyroam.net (a third party, no-fee services) (See Note below.)
- University of Washington using ‘guest connect’ option.
NOTE: AnyRoam.net is a third-party complementary service to Eduroam that provides login credentials to people who are not associated with an existing Eduroam institution. AnyRoam is not meant to be used by people with Eduroam access through their home institution and may conflict with an existing Eduroam configuration. AnyRoam is an opt-in service. Not all Eduroam providers support AnyRoam. UW-IT is not responsible for AnyRoam service, and all questions related to the service should be directed to AnyRoam.net.
If a visitor attempts each solution and is unsuccessful in gaining access, the method of last resort is to have a UW staff or faculty member register the visitor online for a temporary UW netID. The UW staff or faculty member must review the Temporary UW NetIDs information before creating a temporary UW NetID.
Once created this temporary UW NetID would then be used on the University of Washington SSID wireless network by selecting the “Continue to login” option.
Policy
The UW Information Technology (UW-IT) organization manages all Wi-Fi on UW campuses, UW Medicine, and several remote locations. Do-it-yourself wireless networking is not allowed without express written authorization from UW-IT. Request for non-UW-IT managed Wi-Fi may be submitted via email to help@uw.edu.
Wi-Fi locations
Indoor Wi-Fi
Most UW Campus buildings offer indoor Wi-Fi connectivity for eduroam, UW MPSK and University of Washington Wi-Fi networks.
Most UW Medical buildings offer indoor Wi-Fi connectivity for eduroam, UW MPSK, and University of Washington Wi-Fi networks.
Outdoor Wi-Fi
Outdoor Wi-Fi service is available in a number of locations across the UW Campuses.
The maps below are interactive and show current UW Wi-Fi zones, which are highlighted in purple. Planned UW Wi-Fi zones are highlighted in grey.