Connecting to the Wireless Network

Where can I access the wireless network?

In order to connect to UT's wireless network, you must be in range of the wireless signal. Most of the academic and administrative buildings, as well as many other public areas of campus are covered. A list of wireless locations is available.

What do I need in order to access the wireless network?

Almost every notebook computer sold today has an internal wireless card capable of connecting to the UT wireless network. Many other devices are also wireless-capable. Whatever the device, there are two main steps you must perform to use UT's wireless network. 

Step 1 - Connect to the network

Open your wireless configuration tool.  For some laptops it will be the built in to your windows operating system and for others it will be the client that came with your wireless card.  Other devices, such as PDAs, phones, and gaming devices will have some sort of configuration management interface - check your product's documentation for more information. If you have a Mac and are running Leopard see Getting Connected with Leopard for instructions on how to configure your Mac for wireless. 

With your wireless configuration open, fill in the following information:

• Network Name / SSID: nomad
  The name of the UT wireless network is "nomad". When entering this name, make sure you're connecting to the network named nomad, not creating a network.
• Wireless Security / Encryption: None, Disabled, or Open
  The nomad network is not encrypted. There is an encrypted 802.1x network available - nomadx. For more information, please see the nomadx installation page.

Step 2 - Register your device

In order to connect to the Internet, your computer or device must be associated with a UT person. On any device with a web browser (such as a notebook) this part is easy - just open Internet Explorer and try to open any page - such as google.com. You will be automatically redirected to the registration page - http://support.utk.edu/. Log in and follow the instructions to register.  For detailed instructions about the registration process, see the Wireless Registration article.

For devices that do not have web browsers, such as some gaming systems, a manual registration is necessary. See the Gaming Devices page for more information on how to register these devices.