Free High-Speed Wi-Fi through Eduroam Available in Campus Parking Lot 11-A
Mankato, Minn. – Minnesota State University, Mankato is offering free high-speed Wi-Fi in campus parking lot 11-A to students, staff and faculty from any college worldwide who have access to eduroam, an international roaming service for users in research, higher education and further education.
The new Wi-Fi service for eduroam users in Minnesota State Mankato’s lot 11-A is available 24 hours a day. No parking pass is required in lot 11-A, which is located on the west side of Centennial Student Union, near the corner of West and South roads on campus.
Users are asked to access the service from inside their vehicles and to adhere to social distancing guidelines while parked in lot 11-A, which has a capacity of 86 parking spots. When not using Wi-Fi for essential educational access, users are strongly encouraged to follow current Minnesota “stay-at-home” guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark Johnson, vice president and chief information officer at Minnesota State Mankato, said the University’s Division of IT Solutions installed additional equipment on campus to serve Minnesota State Mankato students and employees and then determined it could be expanded to also serve the local community. Johnson said the service allows free high-speed Wi-Fi access to college students – even non-Minnesota State Mankato students – who may have returned home to the Mankato area because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The service is available to all with access to eduroam.
Johnson said some students may not have access to a quality Wi-Fi connection in their Mankato-area homes, and others may simply be seeking a quieter place to access Wi-Fi than their homes provide. The high-speed access in lot 11-A may make it easier to download or upload files than some home Wi-Fi connections.
“Minnesota State Mankato is part of a larger, worldwide network that is open to hundreds of universities, and as a result, we are pleased to offer this service to students beyond our own University community, such as students from South Central College as well as others in the Mankato area who have eduroam access,” said Johnson. “A University staff member proposed this, and within two days the equipment was installed and running. We hope this service is helpful to the Mankato-area community during this time.”
For more information or to arrange a media interview, contact Amy Linde, director of strategic communications for IT Solutions at Minnesota State Mankato, by email at amy.linde@mnsu.edu or by phone at 507-389-1551.
Minnesota State Mankato students and employees with access to the University’s MavNet networks can also access those same networks in lot 11-A.
Among the many services it provides, Minnesota State Mankato’s Division of IT Solutions purchased 150 laptops for Minnesota State Mankato students to check out during the current pandemic and is offering curbside pick-up and drop-off for Minnesota State Mankato students and employees needing computer repairs.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 14,297 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 30 colleges and seven universities.
