How do I know if there is a wireless card on my laptop?

Look around your laptop for any symbol that depicts an antennae and radio waves. Some cheaper, economical laptops may have a wireless icon present but contain no wireless card. It is best to check with your Laptop provider first.

My wireless card isn't detecting anything?

Make sure that the wireless connection has not been disabled, to do this go to Network Connections, right-click on the wireless network and select Enable. Make sure you're near a wireless hotspot (see coverage section of this site).

External software switch

Some wireless cards use additional software for configuring their wireless.

Sometimes software of this kind may contain another switch to activate your wireless card

• Toshiba Config Free: Double click the Toshiba config free wireless icon on your system tray (bottom right hand corner) turn on the switch located on the first page that appears.
• Dell: This applies to most recent dell laptops. Right-click the dell configuration icon on the system tray (bottom right hand corner), select the wireless menu and switch the setting to "Always On"

External hardware switch

Some wireless cards use a hardware switch, check around your laptop to see if there is a switch you can turn on that depicts an antennae with radio waves.

External keyboard switch

Some wireless keyboards have a key assigned to enable wireless. This is usually enabled by holding the Function Key on the laptop.

Make sure that your wireless card is installed and fully operational, reinstall your wireless card driver, restart your computer and try again. Make sure that your wireless card uses the latest driver, this can be found by using either windows update or going to the manufacturer's website.

I'm getting a weak signal?

This can be due to many things; here are some of the most common solutions.

You may be to far away from a hotspot, try and move closer to one of the hotspots around campus.

Some wireless cards are not as strong as others, if your laptop was purchased brand new in 2003 or older this may be the cause, try and move closer to one of the hotspots around campus.

Your laptop battery may be low on power; the power to your wireless card may be compensated, either recharge/replace your battery or plug your laptop into an outlet.

Is my VUW password encrypted when I enter it into the wireless authentication page and the Secure access page?

Yes it is.

Can I do internet banking or other important stuff on the wireless?

At your own risk. Wireless is inherently an insecure mode of communication as you can never see who is hiding around the corner trying to intercept your traffic. However banks and other secure sites do set up a private tunnel when you connect to them which should protect your traffic. You can usually tell if the connection is secure when the web page starts with https:// rather than http:// (s for secure!). However the university takes no responsibility for data safety when you are browsing the web. When you connect to the secure network via the welcome page, all your traffic is encrypted.

My laptop automatically picks up a network that I don't wish to use?.

There are two main ways of resolving this issue

Changing the Priority

Go into the properties of your wireless connection and select the wireless tab. Select the network that you are having issues with and click the down arrow or move down button next to the list to lower its priority.

Automatic Connection

Go into the properties of your wireless connection and select the wireless tab. Select the network that you are having issues with and click Advanced. Choose "Connect to this network on demand" or Un-tick the box "Connect to this network when it is in range"

Alternatively; if to you would like to automatically connect to a certain network automatically, increase the priority of the network or choose "Connect to this network when it is in range" under advanced

My Laptop takes a long time to connect?

Your personal internet security software or firewall may be affecting the response time in which your laptop connects with the wireless. To increase the response time you may need to reduce the security or disable the firewall. Disabling firewalls or internet security is not recommended.

There may be too many people connected to the same hotspot, try connecting from another hotspot around campus.

Can I print via wireless?

Staff can in the normal manner. Students can't at present.

Can I ask for a wireless area to be added?

Contact your school administrator who in turn can apply to ITS. We usually try to include areas where there is a gathering of users, eg. lounges, meeting rooms, postgrad study areas.

What is cafenet?

cafenet is a public internet service provided by Citylink. Anyone can use this network provided you open an account with Citylink. This can be done by connecting to the cafenet network.

When I open a browser I am not asked to authenticate?

You may not have logged out from your web session last time and be reconnecting before our user timeout has disconnected you. Always log out from each session for your own security. The logout button can be found on the welcome page http://www.victoria.ac.nz/wirelessvic.

My connection seems slow?

Wireless is a shared media. This means each Access Point has a fixed amount of bandwidth (Nominally 54mbps). You share this with all others connected to the same access point. If you think too many people are connected in your area, we advise that you move to another wireless hotspot.

I've moved nearer to another Access Point but still seem to be connected to the one further away where I was before?

When your signal is degraded by moving too far from an Access Point, you should be handed over to another one with a better signal strength. This handoff is carried out by your laptops radio card, not the Access Point. We can only advise you disable and re-enable your card in this case.