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Wi-Fi troubleshooting & known issues

General troubleshooting issues

I cannot connect to eduroam

The following check-list resolves a majority of issues:

  1. Authenticating to the eduroam SSID (Wireless Broadcast) requires a valid UCL userid and password. Your UCL userid is provided on the front of your registration slip and must be appended with @ucl.ac.uk (e.g. ucxxzano@ucl.ac.uk). It is NOT the user name @live.ucl.ac.uk!
  2. Ensure DHCP (Obtain IP address automatically) is enabled. View instruction guides on enabling DHCP on your computer.
  3. Ensure Proxy redirect within your web browser (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Apple Safari) is disabled. Proxy URL must also be disabled!
  4. Your Operating System may require additional configuration to connect. Please refer to the Guide for further information.

My connection is very slow!

Wi-Fi (Wireless) is shared. Therefore, if there are 20 devices connected to one Access Point, each device will get roughly an equal share of the total bandwidth. This is known as the contention ratio. We have a program to upgrade our Access Points to increase the available bandwidth. In the meantime, you can either (a) move to a quieter location, or (b) stop Network intensive applications (e.g. P2P, BBC iPlayer, Video Streaming) whilst using the wireless service.

Also, unlike the Wireless Site Survey which uses accurate measuring tools, wireless adapters may report inaccurate signal strength (i.e reporting excellent signal strength when it is in fact poor). Please ensure you are in an official location listed on the Locations page before requesting support.

Common issues for returning staff and students

Staff or Students returning from holidays or prolonged periods away from UCL may find their device is unable to connect to eduroam. Below is a check-list of common issues.

  • Password Changed: On some devices, specifically Apple IOS devices (i.e. iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), you will not be prompted to input your new UCL password. Subsequent your connection to eduroam will fail. Please refer to the eduroam connection guides for further information.
  • Certificate Update: On Monday 2 July 2012, the eduroam certificate was replaced.
  • WPA2 Enterprise/ AES Encryption Cipher: On Thursday 20 October 2011, support for WPA2 Enterprise/ AES was enabled on eduroam. A majority of clients will automatically re-negotiated using the improved cipher. Clients which are statically configured with WPA1 Enterprise/ TKIP will continue using this cipher until manually re-configured. Please refer to the eduroam connection guides for more information. There are a number of benefits of using WPA2 including improved security, roaming and connection stability.
  • Connection Guides: If your connection still fails, please refer to the eduroam connection guides for more information.
Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) known issues
  • If you change your UCL password (typically every three months) you must forget the eduroam Network and repeat the Quick Guide.
  • On initial connection your device may prompt: Unable to join the network "eduroam". Dismiss this and try again. If the problem persists, ensure you are not connected to UCLGuest and forget the network if you are. 
  • iOS 10. Recommended you disable Wi-Fi Assist. Select Settings > Mobile Data. At the bottom of the page, toggle Wi-Fi Assist to Off.
Apple Mac OS X known issues
  • Apple Mac OS X Yosemite Wi-Fi issues: Various forums would suggest the Apple’s Wireless Direct Link (AWDL) service impacts on Wi-Fi performance. The following link provides a workaround but is not supported by UCL and is provided for help only Medium.com.
  • Apple Macbook intermittent connectivity: There is a known issue with intermittent connectivity on the Apple Macbook, especially whilst roaming. A fix, and further information was discussed in the following Apple article but this was since removed by Apple.

The synopsis of this article was to Always Trust the orps.jrs.ucl.ac.uk certificate in the Keychain.

  1. Open Finder and navigate to Applications > Utilities > Keychain access.
  2. On the left-hand pane, ensure login is highlighted under Keychains and Certificates under Category.
  3. Highlight the orps.jrs.ucl.ac.uk certificate, right-click and select Get Info from the context menu.
  4. Expand the Trust node and ensure the Extensible Authentication (EAP) is set to Always Trust.
  5. Close the window. You may be prompted for the Username and Password of your machine (not your UCL credentials). Select Update Settings to commit the changes.
  • Apple Mac OS X 10.x Keychain: There is a known issue with invalid items in the Keychain preventing successful authentication. To resolve; Open Finder and select Applications > Utilities (folder) > Keychain Access. This will display a list of items stored in the Keychain. Ensure the login keychain from the left-hand pane is highlighted and delete any reference to eduroam.
  • Apple Mac OS 10.7 (Lion and above) 802.1x: As of Mac OS X Lion (and above) you can no longer modify the 802.1x profile. If you are coming from another institution or you have an old 802.1x profile this can cause connection problems. To resolve, open System Preferences > Profiles and remove the eduroam profile. If Profiles is not available the following workaround is available but not supported by UCL and is provided for help only:

It is strongly recommended you backup your data prior to proceeding! These instructions will wipe any existing Wi-Fi networks! In Finder, navigate to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration and manually rename the following files (e.g. com.apple.airport.preferences.plist.bak):

com.apple.airport.preferences.plist 

com.apple.network.eapolclient.configuration.plist

com.apple.network.identification.plist

networkInterfaces.plist

Microsoft Windows 10 known issues
  • UCL Password Cached: When your UCL password is updated via (My Account) it is a known issue that Windows 8/10 may not prompt you for the new password. To resolve, Command Prompt by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Search (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Search), entering ‘Command Prompt’ in the search box, and then tapping or clicking Command Prompt. At the prompt, type

netsh wlan delete profile name=eduroam

UCLGuest via The Cloud

If you see a ‘Lost in the Cloud’ message.

This log in problem usually occurs with smart phones and is typically resolved by adjusting cookie settings on your device, please follow the following instructions.

iPhone

  • Clear your History, Cookies and Cache all in the Safari tab in Settings
  • Settings > Safari > 'Clear History' and 'Clear Cookies and Data'

Android

  • Open a browser
  • Menu > More > Settings then clear cache, and clear all cookie data

BlackBerry

  • Open the browser options screen
  • Scroll down to General Properties and click to open
  • Click to open the Cache menu
  • Scroll down to Clear Content Caches and click to clear the cache
  • Return to the General Properties screen