Eduroam: Seamless WiFi connectivity across global academic institutions

The Eduroam service offers free WiFi access to students, faculty, and staff at academic and research institutions. Frequently, they travel to attend meetings, conferences, or workshops hosted by other academic or research institutions. Maintaining a consistent internet connection is crucial; thus, the necessity of being connected is undeniable. Fortunately, a secure service called eduroam <“https://eduroam.org”> provides complimentary WiFi access for students, faculty, researchers, and personnel from member institutions. All that’s required is one’s credentials from their home institution and connecting to the eduroam SSID.

Through UP President Alfredo E. Pascual’s term, the University of the Philippines System started deploying eduroam to all WiFi access points scattered in all UP System offices. The UP Information Technology Development Center (UP ITDC) worked with the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) to have UP System as part of the eduroam network (UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute joined eduroam simultaneously, AFAIK). DOST-ASTI, the maintainer of the Philippine Research and Education Network (PREGINET), is the primary agency that liaises with eduroam. In other words, PH academic and research institutions that plan to be part of eduroam must contact DOST-ASTI should they join eduroam. UP ITDC encouraged other UP constituent universities to follow suit swiftly; UP Diliman did the same, eventually extending eduroam SSID visibility and widening the coverage across the entire UP Diliman campus.

Personally, I have experience using eduroam in universities from Singapore to the United States. The convenience was unparalleled, with fast connections available without the need to request credentials from the host organizations.

The eduroam companion app on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store shows the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy in San Narciso, Zambales, as another member institution in addition to DOST-ASTI and the University of the Philippines.