Residential Network Info
Background
UIW provides network connectivity to all resident students free of charge. The network team has made some changes to continue to improve the experience for all students. Please review the instructions below as there are several changes from the last school year.
Connecting Laptops, Tablets and Smartphones
In the residence halls, students can connect their laptops, tablets, and smartphones to the "uiw-resnet" wireless network. After connecting once, these devices will always connect to the "uiw-resnet" network without setting up again. You will even be connected in the academic buildings as well! Don't forget, by connecting to the "uiw-resnet" network all users are agreeing to the terms of the Acceptable Use of Information Resources.
Students will simply select the "uiw-resnet" wireless network and register their device to connect for the entire school year. View instructions to connect to the "uiw-resnet" wireless network (PDF).
Connecting Other Devices
Devices such as video game consoles (Playstation, Xbox, Wii U/Switch), streaming media devices (Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick, Chromecast, Roku), wireless printers, and other similar devices require the user to manually register the MAC address of the device in order to connect to the "uiw-resnet" network. Instructions for registering other devices (PDF)
Filtering
In order to ensure an optimal experience for all students living in the residence halls, UIW filters a few categories of Internet web sites/services. These categories include Malware, Adware, Web Spam, Parked Domains, Peer to Peer (P2P), and Proxies. Web sites such as these pose security and legal risks (plus banner ads are just annoying) while also allowing some students to degrade the network experience for others!
Students may run into legitimate web pages that they would like unblocked. From the block page any user can initiate a request for review to unblock. The IRD team will review and make a determination on unblock requests within a 24 hour window.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Violations
It is important to note that UIW offers a private network and cannot participate nor condone copyright violations.
As such, UIW is obligated to block peer-to-peer file sharing activities on the network (e.g. applications such as KaZaa, BitTorrent, LimeWire and others that facilitate the sharing of digital music and video files in violation of U.S. copyright laws.) UIW will report allegations of copyright violations received from DMCA, RIAA, MPAA, HBO, Sony, or other to the Associate Dean of Judicial Affairs. Students who violate copyright laws may be subject to disciplinary or criminal actions. This could include temporary or permanent loss of network access privileges.
In other words stay off the torrent sites or dark web. It is too easy to go watch Netflix in your friends room to risk infecting your computer and violating this policy!
Guest Connectivity
The University provides limited duration (24 hours) network connectivity for guests via the UIW-Guests network. Guests MUST register their devices through the guest registration portal. The portal page will be visible after connecting to the UIW-Guests network.
View detailed instructions for connecting to the UIW-Guests Network (PDF)
Troubleshooting
If students experience problems related to the UIW residential network they should contact the UIW Help Desk on-campus @ extension 2721 | Locally @ (210) 829-2721 Toll-free @ 1-866-614-5043 | or via email at helpdesk@uiwtx.edu. The help desk line is supported 24/7 by technicians who can help with any issues.