History of Wireless Network in METU

Middle East Technical University Computer Center has been the first to deploy wireless network among Turkish universities. This network was setup in point-to-point mode with 802.11b standard. Four distant departments / administrative units were connected to the campus backbone network using this method.

A set of wireless connection equipment was set a side for emergency cases, in case the connection of a department might be damaged and there would be a need of immideate connection. This set was used a couple of times to connect the department/unit whose connection was damaged, to the backbone network temporarily until the connection is reestablihed conventioanlly.

Later in year 2003, the first workgroup mode wireless network was established at the top of Central Engineering Building for enabling mobile clients' connectivity to Internet.

The present of Wireless Network in METU

In year 2005, with the increase in number of the wireless clients, the coverage area of the workgroup wireless network METU had been expanded to cover nearly the whole departments and administrative units. In every department and unit, hot spots for mobile users had been determined and these spots had been covered with wireless networks by setting up 802.11g access points. Now there is at least one wireless coverage area in every department and in addition to these, part of the dormitories, all academic residences, all the halls of the Library and the Cultural and Convention Center, and the guest houses are under coverage. To see the map of the wireless network points in METU you can take a look this map.

For the security of the network and preventing the unwanted access to the network, an authentication system that runs on RADIUS had been implemented, and users have to register their MAC addresses at http://netregister.cc.metu.edu.tr

There is currently two SSID broadcasts on every AP. First SSID is ng2k - which is short form of "network group 2000" -  a broadcast without any encryption. There is also a second SSID broadcast (namely eduroam) that runs with 802.1x and that's a part of the eduroam, which stands for Education Roaming. eduroam runs on a RADIUS-based infrastructure that uses 802.1X security technology to allow for inter-institutional roaming. For more information about this network and the details of how to set it, please go to eduroam page. Currently, there are over 400 access points running on a central control unit and these AP support 802.11 a/b/g/n standard.

Users without a wireless network interface card can borrow cards from the Library and Cultural and Convention Center with their ID cards. Unfortunately this service is available to METU students and personnel only. These cards are introduced to the authentication system beforehand and needn't to be registered.

People visiting METU can use the wireless service at Cultural and Convention Centre and guest houses by registering their MAC addresses. This is going to be a temporary registration and will be deleted after a predetermined time.

You can read an article on wireless networks in CISN prepared by METU CC Network Group at this address.