UC Davis Gets Wireless Data Service

Mobile computer users throughout the country routinely use Palm? devices for email and scheduling. Police officers use laptops and other specialized devices to transmit and retrieve information instantly. Researchers access live Web pages while on trains. How? Through wireless Internet access. This service (a.k.a. Wireless IP or Wireless Mobile Data) is now available to UC Davis affiliates along with other voice and data services offered through IT-Communications Resources. How does this service work? When you sign up for this service (offered at UC Davis via AT&T), your wireless modem is assigned an IP address. (IP addresses are a series of numbers assigned by the National Information Center that uniquely identify computers on the Internet.) It is through this IP address that the wireless network recognizes you as authorized user. The Internet connection is instantaneous: no need to plug in, find a phone jack, or change your IP address to access the campus network. All it takes is firing up the "IP Stack" software that comes with the wireless modem. However, be aware that Wireless IP does not work at the speeds to which we have grown accustomed (typically 28 to 56 kilobits per second over a modem line). This network transmits data at a speed of up to 19.2 kilobits per second.