Owners of the newest iPhone are not expected to encounter problems with “lsusecure” this fall.There have been no complications with iPhone 3G connecting to the University’s secure wireless network since its July 11 release, University network analysts said.The University operates on a 3G wireless network, and the new iPhone is able to connect to the 3G wireless on campus without software updates.The first generation iPhone operates on the EDGE network, which posed problems for students who were not able to access “lsusecure” from their phones this past fall. The University’s 3G wireless network forced iPhone users to operate on the EDGE wireless towers located outside of campus when accessing the Internet.”The only issue was that the iPhone at that time didn’t have the settings that we were enforcing on our LSU network,” said Hector Rios, University network analyst.The new iPhone 3G has support for campus wireless, and an upgrade is available for the original iPhone. The iPhone is supported on the “lsusecure” network with Apple’s free 2.0 software update.”I have gotten feedback from a few users that it is really easy to connect to ‘lsusecure,'” Rios said. “There is minimal configuration that they have to do.”A student can manually connect to the network by first selecting “Settings” from the home screen.After selecting Wi-Fi and turning it on, the user should select “lsusecure” when asked to choose a network.A PAWS username and password is required before selecting “Join.”A certificate window might pop-up asking for verification. The GROK Web site said students should make sure the certificate comes from GTE CyberTrust Global Root and that it is named “acs-wlan.lsu.edu” or “acs-wlan.net.lsu.edu” before selecting “Accept.”Ariel Parker, finance freshman, said she accessed “lsusecure” from her iPhone without any problems.”The wireless networks popped up, and I picked ‘lsusecure,'” Parker said. “I just had to enter my username and password.”Parker said she recently added the 2.0 software update to access campus wireless.Camille Walsh, political science freshman, said her iPhone had good reception in her dorm, but poorer reception off campus.Demand for the iPhone 3G skyrocketed this summer with more than 1 million purchases in the first weekend. But the number of iPhones on campus should not cause any performance problems this fall, according to ITS.”We get more of a hit with laptops as students download big files or music files,” Rios said. “The campus has enough capacity that we can handle a good number of devices.”AT&T placed four cellular towers around campus to improve reception this past year. The towers are located on top of Herget Hall, Middleton Library, Patrick F. Taylor Hall and the Life Sciences Building.For this football season, AT&T doubled 3G wireless capacity to support the gameday crowd. It will enhance coverage at the stadium as well as the entire campus.In anticipation of the spike in wireless usage, AT&T deploys a mobile cell site at Alex Box Stadium in the tailgating area on gamedays.Since wireless networks are shared, and traffic can shift or grow unexpectedly, mobile users may experience a busy signal during peak calling times at games — usually halftime and right after the game, according to AT&T spokesperson Sue Sperry.AT&T will monitor gameday traffic and make changes to handle increased demand throughout the season.—-
Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]