Information Technology Services (ITS)

New guest Wi-Fi service coming fall 2021

Published on: August 17, 2021

computer keyboard with a wifi symbol

In fall 2021, the Information Technology Services’ (ITS) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) team will be launching the eduroam Visitor Access (eVA) guest Wi-Fi service. This new service is a user-friendly platform that provides secure, high-speed, temporary Wi-Fi internet access to guests visiting the University of Toronto (U of T) campuses.

The eVA guest Wi-Fi service leverages existing eduroam infrastructure and is offered in partnership with CANARIE, a program comprised of 13 provincial and territorial partners to form Canada’s National Research and Education Network.

“We are pleased to launch this tri-campus project in the fall as a service of excellence from EIS,” says Patrick Hopewell, Director, EIS. “With this new service, visitors can easily gain access to Wi-Fi across all three campuses. Additionally, local IT administrators will be able to create unique conference login codes for their community and do so in a way that improves access while maintaining good security practices across the three campuses.”

The eVA guest Wi-Fi service will benefit the whole U of T community, offering a free and easy way to provide internet access to conference delegates and attendees, event sponsors and vendors, keynote speakers and guest lecturers, and families visiting students on campus for special events, such as convocation.

The eVA guest Wi-Fi service replaces the current temporary UTORid “QQ code” credential process and delivers a more flexible, streamlined method of granting guests with secure internet access on the U of T campus wireless network.

How will the eVA guest Wi-Fi service work for on-campus guests?

  1. Staff and faculty will provide their on-campus guests with the phone number and unique passcode available on eva.eis.utoronto.ca.This unique passcode will be updated daily and will work on all three campuses.
  2. Guests will text (SMS) the daily passcode to the indicated phone number.
  3. Guests will then receive a return SMS message containing their temporary, unique username and password, which they can use to login to the “eduroam Wi-Fi network” on their device(s).
  4. And with that, on-campus guests will be able to enjoy free, secure Wi-Fi access for the day.

How will the eVA guest Wi-Fi service work for special events?

  1. If U of T staff are hosting a special event (such as a multi-day conference), local IT administrators will have the ability to request elevated access to the eVA user portal via a ServiceNow request to the ITS Joint Operations Group (JOG).
  2. Once the request has been approved, local IT administrators can then create a unique, branded event passcode to distribute to attendees in multi-day passes for up to 10 consecutive days. This will ensure that guest Wi-Fi credentials remain active throughout the duration of the event. Additionally, departmental administrators can create, via batch upload, unique guest Wi-Fi accounts that can be emailed to their guests in advance of events.

Stay tuned for more announcements and updates as we approach the official eVA guest Wi-Fi service launch date. For more information on this project, visit: wireless.utoronto.ca.