Gaijin Story #11 - UTokyo WiFi Networks for Newbies

When the first time I became student of Todai, I barely used the wifi connections provided by the university except the one at my research institute (AORI). Moreover, as a research student, I have never been provided UTokyo account by the university or the student affair section of my graduate school. I survived somehow by cable and wifi connection from my laboratory. It's such a hard life to become a kenkyuusei, wasn't it?

After (officially) becoming a graduate student however, the university bombarded me with so many information, procedures and guidelines, including for the wifi networks on campus. One of my fellow student joked that with such massive information, we may not be able to finish reading all of them in 3 years of our study.

I write this post for student or anybody (including visitors) at UTokyo who needs wifi connection at the university and still confused with the guidelines. Please note that the wifi connections I mentioned here are the ones provided by the main university network system, not the graduate schools/faculties as they have their own wifi system.

If you're at any campuses of Todai (e.g. Hongo, Komaba, Kashiwa etc) and turn on the wifi connection of your device (laptop or smartphone), you may notice some wifi connections available like this one:

There are basically three kinds of wifi connection at Todai (in red circle), with their own advantages and disadvantages.

1. UTokyo-WiFi

User            : UTokyo students, staffs and faculty members only

Account issuance: Using UTokyo account

Network setting : Required

Pros            : Fast and reliable, Free access to many e-journals, Good for academic works

Cons            : Limited locations, Complicated network settings, Expired after 6 months

This is the official wifi connection of Todai which could be accessed exclusively by the members of the university. In order to use this wifi, you firstly need to obtain your UTokyo account. The account should be distributed during the guidance session of your department when you firstly admit as the student of Todai, and it's extremely important for accessing any on-line academics/administration system (course registration/UTAS etc.)

After obtaining UTokyo account, you should login and register an email address for any contacts/notification regarding the account. After that, you can issue UTokyo-Wifi account by accessing this website. Please keep in mind that UTokyo-Wifi account is different from UTokyo account. In the past, UTokyo-Wifi account could be issued after taking seminar of ECCS at Hongo campus. Starting from FY2018, the account could be issued directly after admitting into the university (no seminar needed).

Log in using your UTokyo account and make new account application. The account information (user id and password) will be sent to your registered email address. After obtaining the account information, you should add the UTokyo-Wifi connection using the settings as described on this page. Tell the truth, the network setting is quite complicated, even for me who used to work with network systems in the past. If you feel confused with the settings, you can ask help from friends or inquiry form of the above mentioned website. Another important thing is, the UTokyo-Wifi account will be expired after 6 months, thus you should issue/renew new account periodically in order to use this service.

The good thing of using this wifi connection is, it's fast and reliable. It's also extremely important if you want to access academic information system such as UTAS or e-journal libraries from campus. 

2. UTokyo-Guest

User            : Visitors, Anybody at UTokyo campuses

Account issuance: Using cellphone number

Network setting : Not required

Pros            : Easy access, No account expiration, Free

Cons            : Limited locations, Slow connection, No academic services provided 

This wifi connection mainly targets the visitors of  Todai. In order to use this wifi, you just need your phone number to get an account (your user id). Either international and domestic phone numbers are eligible to use this service, as long as they can receive call (from audio guide). It's free and no network setting required for using UTokyo-Guest, hence it's really convenient for visitor or user with limited knowledge in network settings.

Users can directly connect to the wifi and open web browser. When trying to open a web page, user will be forwarded to the login page. The login information will remain even if the browser is closed (reset only in shutdown/restart). For more information about this wifi, you can access this page and manual.

Anyway, as the name suggests, it basically can not be used to access academic information systems of the university. The users however, could use this wifi and VPN to access the internal network of the university if they have UTokyo account. Another bad thing about this wifi is, it's slow, especially in the period of high network traffic.

3. Eduroam

User            : Anybody who uses participating institution email service

Account issuance: Using participating institution's email

Network setting : Depends on the visited institutions/locations

Pros            : Fast, Worldwide access, Free

Cons            : No academic services provided, Network setting could be complicated

This wifi connection is the most interesting (at least for me) of all. Eduroam is a free international roaming service for user in research, higher education and further education. Using this service, you can access wifi connection not only at Todai, but also at any participating institutions, all over the world. So let's say you join a conference at a university in US or UK who uses the same roaming service, you still can access the wifi using the very same account you use at your home institution (in this case, Todai) and vice versa. The authentication system/network settings however, should follow the ones of the visited institution.

In order to issue an account, it's necessary for the user to have an email address of participating institution. In case the user is a member of Todai, he/she needs to have an email address using Todai's domain (u-tokyo.ac.jp). Next thing to be keep in mind is, if the user uses eduroam service at Todai, then the network settings should follow the ones used in Todai. That means, the network settings will be the same with UTokyo-Wifi, which is yeah ... quite complicated. Anyway, if you have done the settings for UTokto-Wifi, you should be able to do it again with ease for eduroam.

For issuing an account (for Todai's member), go to this page, click on the "New Account Application" link, and input your name and Todai's email address. After confirmation, you will receive an account notification on your email with user id and password information. You can log into the account management page to check the details (change password etc.).  After issuing an account, you could do the very same network settings as UTokyo-Wifi as explained above. Just remember, if you want to use eduroam anywhere else than Todai, the network setting should be different.

The account will be expired after 1 year, but could be renewed if the registered email address is still valid at that time. Another important thing is, similar with UTokyo-Guest, eduroam could not be used to access academic information system of the university, unless the user uses VPN and UTokyo account.