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Comment by tetris11 | Hacker News Reader

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> eduroam is based on 802.1X* and a linked hierarchy of RADIUS servers containing users’ data (usernames and passwords). Participating institutions must have operating RADIUS infrastructure and agree to the terms of use. eduroam can be set up in three easy steps:

https://www.serverwatch.com/networking/radius-server/

> RADIUS works based on a client/server model. Users connect to a RADIUS client, which is a network access server (NAS). The NAS then verifies the user’s information through the RADIUS authentication server. The connection information can include details such as a username, a password, and an IP address.

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Great answer.

I think though that this response is predicated on the school's coming from a relatively developed nation.

If the poster is not from one and is talking about getting free internet in locations that don't have it at all for their school I think the answer would be different. Because then it's mainly about the cheapest technology that can get it done, and won't be touched or bothered by anyone because it's not worth it.

Why would that only work in "relatively developed nations"? People from less "developed" nations aren't stupid savages, they just have access to fewer resources. Look at this map https://eduroam.org/where/ The countries where eduroam don't exist are mainly just countries that don't have international academic visibility, with universities that are mainly focused on teaching to local students rather than conducting bleeding-edge research. Again, not because they're idiots, but just because with fewer resources you have to prioritize. Setting up 802.1X and RADIUS servers isn't much more expensive than setting up e.g. an email server, and you can bet that they know about email even in those places you consider less "developed".

My comment is mainly focused on a difference in government oversight in devloping countries, I make the assumption that less developed nations have less standard procedures and regulatory requirements.

The main issue being getting the technology and setting it up. Not talking with the IT department at a school.

Of course there will be some people that the poster should talk to, but I think that hurdle is relatively lower than getting extensive network equipment delivered to places which have underdeveloped infrastructure.

> Setting up 802.1X and RADIUS servers isn't much more expensive than setting up e.g. an email server

Often, this implies throwing out all of your existing access point hardware in favor of something that supports 802.1X/WPA Enterprise. You also need to build out a Radius authentication backend if you don’t only want to support inbound roaming.

because it only works in countries that have their international relations developed enough in order to be included

Wat? It's software.

Not at all, it’s a network. A new provider joining has security implications. You get all devices with Eduroam configured to auto-connect to your access point, for one thing.

You could say that that’s no worse than providing unencrypted Wi-Fi with a common SSID that people might have configured on their devices as auto-connectable, but I think the perception of Eduroam as being better than that (due to being encrypted) does exist.

To efficiently manage that, Eduroam is set up as a “federation of federations”. To join, you’d have to work with your country’s academic/research network organization (NREN), which are often affiliated with tertiary education institutions. These have very different problem domains than primary or secondary schools. For example, most people eligible to access Eduroam will be adults.

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