U-M faculty, students, researchers and staff can now easily connect to Wi-Fi while visiting other academic institutions worldwide.

A new wireless service known as eduroam allows users from participating institutions to access a secure, encrypted wireless network using their home organization’s login credentials.

Information and Technology Services launched eduroam on the U-M Ann Arbor campus in October.

Initially popular in Europe, the network is used by thousands of institutions across 66 countries worldwide. While U.S. adoption is still in the early stages, nearly 130 American institutions offer the service. U-M is the first university in Michigan to launch eduroam.

From October through December 2013, more than 1,500 different users accessed U-M’s eduroam network, including 873 remote users from 32 different countries.

“When faculty or students visit our campus, eduroam is both convenient and secure for them to connect to. Many of our international visitors have it set as their default wireless service,” said Andy Palms, executive director of ITS Communications Systems & Data Centers.

“This service is equally important to the numerous U-M faculty and students who travel throughout the world. They can use their U-M credentials when studying or doing research at other eduroam institutions.”

When traveling, U-M users will select the eduroam Wi-Fi network and use their university email address and UMICH password to connect. To save time and to verify proper configuration, Palms recommends users test eduroam on their devices before leaving the U-M campus.

Steve Dworkin, professor of romance languages and literatures, and linguistics, spent last semester on sabbatical at the University of Lorraine in Nancy, France. He credits eduroam for allowing him to quickly and seamlessly access Wi-Fi.

“When I arrived, I accessed the guest Wi-Fi network with a username and password that I couldn’t reset and was forced to re-enter multiple times a day. I carried around a piece of paper so I could remember my password,” Dworkin said.

“When I heard about eduroam, I decided to give it a try. It connected seamlessly and made my life so much easier for the rest of the stay. I didn’t have to mess with passwords in every location I visited.”

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