Posted September 24, 2019 by Academic and Institutional Technology
Tags: Department News
VPN Update
Wheaton College provides a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service to protect important data when you are working off-campus. It also allows you to access resources that are otherwise only available on-campus.
On October 2, 2019, when you use the VPN, you will have to choose between a “Wheaton College Only” connection and a “Wheaton College + Internet” connection.
When should you choose “Wheaton College Only”?
- The “Wheaton College Only” connection is equivalent to what you have been using.
- Use it when you are connecting from a network you trust, such as your home network, to resources only available on-campus, such as Banner INB, Cognos, or a specific server.
- “Wheaton College Only” will send only Wheaton-bound traffic through our VPN; other traffic will go straight to the Internet.
When should you choose “Wheaton College + Internet”?
- If you are on a public network, however, such as at an airport, hotel, or coffee shop, please use the “Wheaton College + Internet” connection.
- Also choose this if you are connecting from a foreign country that monitors all of your internet traffic.
- “Wheaton College + Internet” will funnel all of your internet traffic through our VPN for maximum security.
Do I need to set my preferred gateway for my computer to remember?
- Yes! If you don’t, the VPN will choose for you and it may make a less-than-optimal choice.
- See these articles for setting your preferred gateway. This one is for Windows and this one is for Mac.
Should I use VPN for personal entertainment or streaming?
- No. Neither of these options is intended for personal entertainment and performance is significantly reduced. Consequently, they are not an efficient way to livestream, so do not use VPN to stream movies or videos.
- Furthermore, if you are connected to “Wheaton College + Internet” and attempt to watch streaming video, you will likely experience slowdowns, as the video traffic (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) will be funneled through the VPN.
Do you have more questions? See our answers.wheaton.edu article or contact the AIT Service Desk at 630.752.4357 (HELP) or by email at ait.service.desk@wheaton.edu.