Free wireless Internet access — now available in nearly every UMHS facility — makes it easy for faculty, staff, trainees, patients and visitors to reach the Internet. Thousands of people each day access our WiFi networks from laptops, tablets and smartphones, and even from medical equipment.
The policy governing WiFi access has recently changed.
Here’s a summary of the changes affecting WiFi networks and access:
• The “guest” network’s name will change to MGuest-UMHS.
This network, available in most Hospitals & Health Centers facilities for patient/visitor use, will change names this week, just before the opening of the new Children’s and Women’s facility. The guest networks in other UMHS facilities will also change to this new name.
A new “Free WiFi Available Here” sign is available to download and print here. Please post it in all areas where MGuest-UMHS is available, to alert patients and visitors.
Please note: UMHS employees/trainees should not use this network to transmit protected health information (PHI).
• MWireless-UMHS in Medical School buildings, including NCRC.
This network can be accessed by anyone with a U-M Active Directory password – essentially, all faculty, staff and students/trainees. They can be used to access clinical applications only in conjunction with the MCIT provided VPN client. MWireless-UMHS was designed to offer non- UMHS Faculty and students better access to wireless when within Health System buildings. It should not be used by UMHS staff to access UMHS resources– the 8021x network should be used for this purpose. MWireless-UMHS will be rolled out to all Health System buildings by the end of the year.
• If you travel to other campus buildings, you may note the MWireless network is now available in all campus buildings (MWireless-CAEN in CoE buildings). Changes to Core Image laptops are currently being tested to allow for automatic connection to the MWireless wireless network in campus building without any configuration needed to the laptop. This feature should be available by mid-December.
Login instructions for MWireless networks are available at http://www.itcom.itd.umich.edu/wireless/connect. Be certain to change the SSID to MWireless-UMHS in your WiFi menu when connecting to MWireless-UMHS for the first time.
• For instructions to set your Active Directory password (which is different from your Kerberos or Level-2 password) see this page.
• New rules for “WiFi hotspots” in patient care areas
Some mobile phone carriers now allow subscribers to buy a device that turns their smartphone into a WiFi network hub – this is sometimes referred to as “MiFi”. People who buy these devices can use them to access the Internet from their laptop or tablet, and even to give Internet access to others.
Unfortunately, these “hotspot” networks can interfere with UMHS WiFi networks that are used by clinical equipment and clinicians. This could slow down response time for important clinical functions.
As a result, all mobile “hotspot” users must now use a cable, not WiFi, to give Internet access to their laptop, tablet or other device in any building where patient care occurs.
Information about this change will be posted on the Patient/Visitor Guide. But staff should help inform patients and visitors of this rule whenever they observe a mobile “hotspot” being used.
• New rules for Bluetooth devices in the UMHS environment
The Health System wireless policy has been updated to better define acceptable use of Bluetooth devices within UMHS. See the policy for a complete list of the technical specifications.
Please remember when purchasing or using cordless phones in the Health System that you make sure your phones use the 900MHz ISM band or 1.9GHz DECT 6.0 band. Other cordless phones will cause interference with clinical WiFi networks.
As has been the policy for a number of years, members of the UMHS community should not purchase WiFi access points and place them into the environment, even if they use their own money.
For more about all WiFi access options at UMHS, including the UMHS-8021x network that can be accessed by Core Image devices and by mobile devices that use the Cisco VPN app, see this page.
For more about accessing the UMHS VPN from a mobile device, see this page.
Remember that all devices used to access information about patients, clinical trial subjects or other protected information (such as credit card numbers of event registrants) should be protected by encryption and/or a passcode. For more information see http://www.med.umich.edu/u/compliance/area/isecure/datasecurity.htm
