Registered devices large in number, wide in variety
Number of devices registered on WiFi always growing
Ohio University has 151,504 electronic devices registered, as of Opening Weekend.
This year, users are only required to register their devices if they plug in to the Internet through a wired connection. Otherwise, they’re already registered once they connect to the Wifi. That number of registered devices from the first weekend probably won’t change much, said Sean O’Malley, the information technology communications manager.
Through registering devices, this allows the IT department to keep track of what is registered on the network — mainly for security reasons. The network registration keeps track of who each device belongs to, which allows them to know who to contact in case a problem occurs with a particular device.
“It allows us to make sure we’re able to attribute,” said Matthew Dalton, director of information security. “It has been able to help with investigations. It also helps to protect students and individuals who haven’t done anything wrong. If we didn’t have that in place, law enforcement would be able to come in and listen to all the traffic.”
This current network registration process was put into place in fall of 2012. It was upgraded from Bluesocket — which required users to sign on to the network each time they moved from one access point to another, which could be different buildings or even different floors in the building. It would also require users to sign in again if their devices went into sleep mode.
O’Malley said compiling stats is, “more of an art than a science.” The department doesn’t generally keep a list of what kind of devices are registered at all times, mainly to protect students’ privacies.
“Basically, when people register their devices, there is a client broadcast that comes from the device itself,” Dalton said. “Most cases it says ‘I’m an iPhone, I’m an Xbox,’ Usually they self-identify.”
After the devices are registered, it allows the department to run a script to see what kinds of devices are on the network. This script is only run when there is a request for it.
“Generally speaking, we try not to infringe on any content more than we have to,” Dalton said.
However, this isn’t a 100 percent perfect process because all devices don’t self-identify as what they specifically are.
The “Xphone” category is a catch-all for devices that are clearly phones, but the manufacturer didn’t specify what kind. According to O’Malley, Androids, which have only 1,146 devices registered, are probably more prominent on campus than the category alludes to, and that there are probably many Androids in the Xphone category. This category may also include non-smart phones that still have the capability to connect to Wifi.
“Androids aren’t as small of a population as that number would make it seem, but they definitely have a smaller piece of the pie,” he said.
While the numbers will subtly change throughout the year, O’Malley said the largest growth is right after winter break, when students are returning to campus with new devices they received during the winter holidays. However, when a new device is released — such as the new iPhone on Sept. 19, there isn’t a large change to the number of devices.
“It doesn’t increase the total number of devices because they aren’t using the old one, they’re upgrading,” O’Malley said. “It doesn’t create a big uptick in the total devices.”
Each year, the number of registered student devices continues to increase. There isn’t a maximum number of devices each individual student can have registered.
“We have yet to see a year that doesn’t have an increase in devices. Personal devices haven’t peaked yet,” O’Malley said. “Each year, we’re seeing more.”
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