Residence Hall Connectivity FAQ

1. Can I have a router in my room?
   Yes, but turn off wireless. Broadcasting another wireless network will cause interference with the enterprise wireless network.
 
2. Are WSC-Secure and WSC-Guest the same network? 
   Yes, WSC-Secure and WSC-Guest are two broadcast networks that are part of the enterprise network. 
 
3. What is considered a Registered Device?
Any devices that do not support WPA2-Enterprise authentication will need to registered. Typical devices are:
   a. Game Consoles (Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo Switch, etc)
   b. Set-Top Boxes (Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, etc)
   c. Smart TVs
   d. Printers
   e. Personal Assistants
 
4. Is it faster to be wired rather than wireless in my dorm room?
   No, with advancement of wireless technology the speeds between wired and wireless are comparable.
 
5. What NAT type does WSC utilize in the residence halls?

Game Console NAT Types 
In response to questions that come up from time to time, this document tries to explain why gaming consoles sometimes have trouble playing online games. The issue really stems from the use of NAT on the College network. 

Possible NAT types seen on consoles 
   a. Nintendo 
      o Open, Moderate, Strict 
   b. Xbox: 
      o Open, Moderate, Strict 
   c. Play Station: 
      o Open (type 1), Moderate (type 2), Strict (type 3) 

What is NAT? 
NAT is a network technology that allows multiple devices inside a private network to share a single publicly routable IP address. A public IP address is required to access anything on the internet. At WSC there are thousands of devices connecting to our private network which need access to the internet at any given time. However, WSC does not have enough public IP addresses for every device. The College uses NAT to permit sharing of address space. Without NAT, only a small subset of the connected devices would be able to access the internet at a time. At home, an internet provider only assigns one address for everyone on the home network to share. Home routers use NAT just like WSC does, but on a much smaller scale. 

What can be done to change the NAT type? 
At home, a user can change the NAT type manually or the gaming console can change it automatically through the use of UPnP. However, those changes will make it so that only one gaming console will have an “Open” NAT type at a time. Also, UPnP is strictly designed for home use and is not a feature available on enterprise level networks. Requiring an open NAT and utilizing UPnP demonstrate that gaming consoles are designed to be used on a home network where it is the only console trying to use the internet. The only way to change the NAT type in an enterprise level network where there are hundreds of game consoles active at the same time is to make sure that every device on the entire network has its own, non-shared public IP address. The real limitation is in how the game consoles are designed to work and not by the College blocking anything. 

Conclusion 
The WSC network is an important resource for education and entertainment, including online gaming. The College has done all that it can do on this topic for the time being. As gamers ourselves, we understand the entertainment of gaming and do our best to provide support as best we can and always look toward improving service. 
 
 
6. Why can’t I connect my Playstation 3?
There is a known issue with some first, second, and third generation PS3 models not connecting to the WSC network (wireless or wired). Models experiencing the problem described above are: CECHAxx, CECHBxx, CECHExx, CECHGxx, CECHHxx, CECHKxx, and CECHLxx (replacing XX with 01 which stands for North America). The model can be found and verified on the back or bottom of the device. These models of PS3 were released to the market between Nov. 2006 - Oct. 2008.
 
It was discovered that these systems can't connect to the internet provided by WSC through the new Aruba Networks system (wired and wireless). However, it is known that the same PS3 systems having troubles at WSC can connect to the internet at off campus locations (ex. home) through a brand of network equipment meant for home use (linksys, buffalo, netgear, ......). The root cause of this issue has been found to be with how this older generation of PS3 console responds to over the air (OTA) frames broadcasted by the adaptive radio management (ARM) feature within the Aruba Networks wireless system. The PS3 console does not recognize these ARM OTA frames and the PS3 console response is to shut down the network interface card (NIC) resulting in the PS3 not connecting to the internet. 
 
In troubleshooting this issue we had reached out to both the Sony and Aruba Networks support teams. Sony replied that this issue was not their problem and provided no assistance. The response from the Aruba technical team (included at the end of this notice) is to disable the ARM OTA update feature within the Aruba Networks system. This feature aids in the management of the Aruba Networks wireless services, and is designed for environments where there are numerous wireless access points. In the WSC Residence Halls, where there are hundreds of wireless access points (one per room), the ARM OTA update feature is very beneficial in providing the best wireless service possible. 
 
At this time we (Network and Technology Services - NATS team) will not be disabling the ARM OTA update feature within the Aruba Networks system. We wish to continue providing the best wireless service possible for the majority of users on campus and that will be at the cost of these 6 to 8 year old PS3 gaming systems not being able to connect (wired or wireless) to internet services while on the WSC campus. 

 

Last Updated: 9/13/2019