Telford students get free wi-fi across the world

Telford College of Arts and Technology has signed up to a fast-growing communications network which gives its students access to free Wi-Fi services in more than 70 countries.

The college is one of just a handful in the Midlands to have joined ‘eduroam’, which provides automatic online access to staff and students at any participating site across the world.

The eduroam service is now available in 76 territories on all the world’s continents, from Argentina and Australia to the United States, Russia and South Africa. There are more than 200 sites using eduroam in the UK alone.

TCAT’s Head of Computer Services Paul Flanders said: “It means that our students can use any device, any time, anywhere whenever they are on an eduroam site.

“It provides them with automatically authenticated network logon and access to the internet, with seamless and automatic connection.

“And from an administrative point of view, it means that organisations such as TCAT can provide automatic guest network access services to visitors, saving time and money for both the college and the visitor.

“There is also an important security aspect to eduroam too, because it allows us to see who is logging into our network, and keep track of any visitors which are on site.”

The eduroam principle is based on the fact that the user's authentication is completed by the user's home institution, while the authorisation decision allowing access to the network resources is done by the visited network.

When a user tries to log on to the wireless network of a visited eduroam-enabled institution, the user's authentication request is sent to the user's home institution, using the most secure encryption and authentication standards in existence today.

Paul Flanders said: “The security of eduroam far exceeds those which are found in typical commercial Wi-Fi hotspots.”