Students and staff living in the NIU residence halls and Northern View Community have several options for connecting their computers to the internet. Cisco Clean Access is required in order to use the NIU network.

• Ethernet - High-speed, "always on" ethernet connections are available in the rooms of every residence hall and in the apartments of the Nothern View Community. Residents will need a computer that supports an RJ45 ethernet connection and one ethernet cable (Category 5, 5e, or 6).
  
  Residents living in Grant and Stevenson doubles and suites will need a hub and additional cable to connect their computers. This additional equipment is provided by NIU free of charge for the duration of the academic year. You can check out a hub and additional cable at the ResTech Helpdesk, located in Stevenson 110C.
• Wireless - Wireless Internet access is available in the floor lounges and lobbies of every residence hall and in the Northern View Community center building. Residents need an 802.11b wireless network card to connect to the NIU wireless network.
  
  For more information, setup tutorials, and instructions, visit the SecureNet Website.
  
  Personal routers and/or wireless access points are prohibited in the residence halls and Northern View Community. Unmanaged switches can be used if residents want to connect more than one device in their room.
• Dial-In - If you have an older computer that will not authenticate with Clean Access or does not support an ethernet connection, you can dial in to the NIU network using a 56K modem. There is no direct charge for dial-in service, but it does tie up your phone line and is by far the slowest of the three options. If students use NIU as their ISP, there will be no charge for the phone call on your phone bill. However, if students dial-in to any other ISP (AOL, Verizon), they will be charged on a per-minute basis for the call.

NIU does not permit residents to install their own wireless routers.

If personal wireless routers are detected on the network, ITS will either block the IP or MAC address of the router, or block the entire port in the room. The student will then be contacted by ResTech staff, the NIU Abuse Investigator, or network engineers (depending on the severity and time of day).

For the 2009-2010 academic year, all residents of the halls will be assessed $62.00 per semester for ResNet Access & Support. The funds collected enable NIU to provide Internet access and support to residents, including dedicated Internet access to every room in the residence halls, wireless access in all floor lounges, support for the service provided by the ResTech Helpdesk and ITS, and the ResTech Connections CD.