In february 2009, VUBnet started deploying the new wireless infrastructure, which expands the existing Urbizone network, and completely replaces the old indoors wireless infrastructure. In many public indoors locations - amongst which the library, the CSB and the various "Student Cafés" - you will find two separate wireless networks: Urbizone and VUBnet. Early 2010 this got expanded by a third wireless network: Eduroam.

For an easy way to connect to these networks using configuration files, see the bottom of the article !
UPDATE 23/03/2012 : test of a zip file with installable configuration

---

Urbizone

The first one is the publicly available Urbizone. This is the same network that you can find outdoors, although the SSID is written with a capital 'U' (Urbizone), whereas the outdoors SSID is written with a lowercase 'u' (urbizone). More details can be found in our WebNotes or on the Urbizone pages.

Please be aware that this connection is unencrypted, so anyone with enough knowledge of wireless networks can capture anything you send (including logins/passwords on unencrypted websites and traditional e-mail).

Several types of connections / protocols / applications on the VUB network will not be accessible for this reason.

---

VUBnet

The more recent "VUBnet" wireless network is encrypted using WPA2 encryption. Using this wireless network, all your network traffic will be encrypted, which allows you to use all the VUB online services in a safe way.

This network requires a valid VUB NetID and password. It also requires a computer or wireless device that is capable of using WPA2 encryption.

• Thanks to the people of the University Library we have an english downloadable PDF file with a detailed walkthrough under Windows XP.
• Thanks to the people of BISI we have a dutch downloadable PDF file with a detailed walkthrough under Windows Vista.
• Download the english detailed walkthrough under Windows 7.

For all other operating systems, you can try to configure the network using the following settings:

Network Authentication: WPA2
Data Encryption: AES
EAP type: Protected EAP (PEAP)
Authentication Method: Secured password (EAP-MSCHAP v2)

Attention: you can only have one device online at the same time for each NetID.
To have for instance your laptop and smartphone online at the same moment, you can configure one of the to use VUBnet, the other Eduroam.

---

Eduroam

The latest addition to the wireless networks is eduroam access. Eduroam, short for "educational roaming", is an international project which allows users visiting another institution to log on to the wireless network with the username and password they would use at their home institution.

A list of participants in Belgium can be found on the eduroam participants pages.

The technical setup is identical to the VUBnet setup, though you need to enter Eduroam as SSID instead of VUBnet.

Your login for Eduroam is your NetID@domain. If John Doe were a VUB student with jdoe as NetID, his login would be This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If he were ULB staff, it would be This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Installable configuration files for Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Update 23/03/2012)

• Download the zipped file Install_Wireless_VUB.zip.
• Double-click the downloaded file and unpack it to a convenient location.
• Navigate to this location.
• Execute the file Install_VUBnet or Install_Eduroam. Depending on your security settings, you might need to right-click the file and choose Run as administrator.
• Soon after this, your computer will ask you once to log in.

Configuration files Windows

This will only work for Windows versions after Windows XP. For XP please look at the manual above.

Instead of doing the manual configuration, you can also use the following configuration files. They do require a bit of command-line typing. For a more complete explanation on this feature, you can always refer to this excellent and more extensive article.

• Download either the VUBnet or the Eduroam configuration file (right-click, save as ...) to a convenient location
• Start up a command prompt (using for instance Windows-key + R then typing cmd)
• Now type the following command:
  

  netsh wlan add profile filename="<location where you saved>\VUBnet.xml" user=all

• Let's suppose you saved to your Documents folder, it might look like this on windows 7:
  

  netsh wlan add profile filename="c:\users\jdoe\Documents\VUBnet.xml" user=all

• Soon after this, your computer will ask you once to log in

---

Configuration files MacOS

The latest version of the  Apple Operating Sytem Lion (10.7) needs a configuration file for the available secure networks VUBnet and Eduroam on the Campus Oefenplein.

• Download the VUBnet and Eduroam configuration file (right-click, save as ...) to a convenient location
• Doubleclick this file and install it in MacOS X Lion.
• You can now login on the secured Wifi networks.

General troubleshooting

A few things to check if you have issues connecting

• The "classic" thing any helpdesk will ask you: try to restart your device (laptop, handheld, smartphone, ...). This does solve quite a few problems.
• Mostly for windows computers: make sure you have installed the latest drivers for your device.
• Disable ipv6 support. It is known to give issues with our current setup for VUBnet and Eduroam (01/02/2011).
• If you have trouble connecting to any of the three networks, check to see if you can connect to one of the others.