One of my biggest fears about getting an iPod Touch was that I would not be able to use the WIFI on any PSU campus. This is due to Penn State's use of the Cisco Systems VPN Client to authenticate users before they can access the internet. Cisco has not released any updates to support the iPhone and there has been no indication that there will be any change in this in the near future. Presumably, this would leave iPhone and Touch users out in the cold when it comes to Campus WIFI.
Well, good news fellow Penn Staters, I have an answer for getting online using the Touch's Safari browser without the use of the VPN client. I was sitting in Music Building II today and I decided it was high time to attempt to get online with my Touch, despite the obvious obstacle presented by the VPN Client. Now we all know that the ONLY page that is supposed to be accessed without a VPN client on Campus is the VPN download page. I opened up Safari and went to https://work.psu.edu/access/vpn . This worked on the Touch, so I decided to open different pages that were linked to the vpn page. Low and behold, my iPod Touch began to load them.
I decided to try to use items on PSU's Domain, anything with @psu.edu attached to the URL. Here is a list of pages/services that I was able to use on my Touch, without the VPN.
Once I used a link off of the VPN download Page it was as if I could browse freely within all that Penn State has to offer on the web. I did try to use services such as Yahoo! and CNN.com, but those were to no avail.
When I get a chance (probably later tonight) I will take some pictures of what I did and place them in a more detailed How-To on this blog. For now just follow these quick directions.
Make sure that you are connected to Penn State via the Touch Wireless
Open a new Safari Browser Page
Enter https://work.psu.edu/access/vpn as the URL
Try clicking on links listed on the work.psu.edu page
Begin opening new Safari windows while staying within psu.edu
I will post more details, and information from further testing soon.
Comments (1)
What SSID did you use?
Posted by Anonymous | September 17, 2007 11:36 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 11:36