Free wireless comes with a hitch

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It seems like such a short time ago that the debate about whether or not UVSC should offer free wireless Internet was raging in its academic hallways. Though technically wireless Internet is still paid for through fees lumped in with tuition and other student fees, “free” wireless Internet was still seen by many as a victory.

Bringing up the available wireless networks might be a little confusing at UVSC. No, you aren’t getting a sweet deal when you pick that “guest” network and it doesn’t make you do anything special to use the Internet; they’re both free anyway, remember?

So what exactly is the difference? There seem to be two main differences between the “UVSC-Guest” network and the “UVSC-Wireless” network. First, the wonderful people who sympathized with or participated in the recent protests against the local Gold’s Gym for its promiscuity will probably want to use the guest network. The guest network is fully equipped with a standard k-12 filter that blocks sites harmful to minors and is in compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act. The UVSC-Wireless network, on the other hand, is the Internet in all its unfiltered, self-control testing glory, but requires a college login ID and password.

Second, the UVSC-Wireless network requires that the computer accessing the network is running the CISCO Clean Access agent. Clean Access basically ensures that all the security and virus patches are in fine, working order and up-to-date. While this may be annoying since patches and security updates sometimes come out all the time, it keeps the network safe from viruses and other issues. Just so there are no excuses, UVSC offers the Enterprise version of McAfee ViruScan free of charge.

Students should, however, always remember to read and abide by UVSC policies when using the Internet provided by UVSC, whether it’s through the computer labs or the wireless Internet. If you have any questions or concerns about the Internet, just email [email protected]