Technical information you may need to know

An eduroam UK (JRS) site will implement one of two 'tiers' of service. The JRS tier available at the site you're visiting will dictate what type of service you'll recieve. JRS3 offers the best security and access to external internet resources. The Tier 1 service is no longer used.

  • JRS Tier 2 - When you visit a Tier 2 site you will find a secure wireless network called 'eduroam' advertising WPA-Enteprise/WPA2-Enterprise security. Tier 2 sites use 802.1X authentication (a secure tunelling mechanism), to pass your credentials back to a University of Sussex authentication server. To connect to eduroam at a Tier 2 site follow the appropriate configuration guide to pre-configure your equipment. Tier 2 sites may also impose some restrictions on network access, please consult the equivalent guide at the institution you plan to visit for further details.
  • JRS Tier 3 - A Tier 3 site includes the same security and authentication precautions as Tier 2 but in addition, should provide relatively unfettered access to internet resources and must support IPv6 connectivity.

Notes

  1. Note: If you are connecting at a Tier 2/3 site with equipment that does not use the Microsoft Windows operating system, pay particular attention to the certificate validation sections of the configuration guides. If you use a Microsoft Windows operating system and the configuration guide is followed correctly, Windows will ensure that your credentials are handled securely (even when cached).
  2. If you can already connect to the eduroam wireless network on the eduroam campus and/or to the wired network with 802.1X authentication, you will be able to connect to eduroam at other Tier 2/3 sites automatically.

Updated on 17 March 2022