There are two options:
- WIRED – the best option, fastest. All rooms are equipped with wired network ports.
- WIRELESS – slower and can be affected by many other users and devices connecting to the SSID.
IMPORTANT: Our monitoring software will report a fault if an access point is disconnected. We may make a £15 service charge if we visit a room to maintain an access point and find that it has been deliberately disconnected from the mains or the network.
We are unable to turn off the flashing lights on the Access Point — you can cover the side of the Access Point with a sock, piece of card etc.
Wired networking
You must have set up your Single Sign On (University email account access: SSO — see below) to be able to connect to the wired College network.
If your room has one of the below pictured access points, connect your computer’s network cable into any of the four wired sockets on the bottom of the access point.
All rooms that don’t have one of these boxes will have wall ports near or under your desk to connect a network cable into. Note that the top two floors of StairCase 22 do not have wall ports in the room. You will need to rely on wifi for connection to the network.
Open a web browser and type in ‘example.com’ (yes actually type example.com) and you will be re-directed to a registration page.
Click the link below ‘SSO Balliol College Account Holders’ and follow the on-screen instructions.
Your computer needs to have its network address set to ‘Automatic’ or ‘DHCP’ to get the screen above, and private MAC addressing must be disabled. This is standard for most computers.
Wireless networking
You must have set up your Single Sign On (University email account access: SSO — see below) and have set up a remote access password to be able to connect to the wireless networks. There are four Wireless SSIDs broadcast in Balliol:
- Eduroam: University-provided network for use with computers and mobile devices for use by anyone in an academic institution who has set up Eduroam access. Login via: SSO* + remote access password. Instructions can be found via central IT help pages.
- OWL:
- University-provided network for use with VPN software. Not suitable for mobile devices. Login via SSO + remote access password + VPN client.
- University-provided network for Academic Visitors (OWL-visitor). Your passwords are distributed by your conference organisers. Login via time-limited credentials.
- Balliol: In-house wireless system for Balliol members’ computers. Members should generally use Eduroam as that is not only available in college but in all other parts of the University. Instructions for connection to eduroam are found on the central IT Help pages.
- Balliol Guest: In-house system for College guests. Login via: time-limited password. This is not intended for student use.
Single Sign On (SSO)
The SSO is the University’s Single Sign On username, e.g. ball1234, used for accessing email and remote access.
*For eduroam this can be an SSO for the user’s home institution (enabled for eduroam), e.g. ball1234 or abcd1234@kent.ac.uk, and its associated remote access password.
Remote access password
The remote access password is set here. It is not the same as your email password but it is the same as the VPN password. Setting a new remote access password can take up to an hour to sync through the system.
Which one?
Balliol members are recommended to use eduroam or Balliol. A few legacy Oxford websites still require OWL.
Academic visitors should use eduroam if they are set up for it at their home institution or OWL if this has been set up in advance through their conference organiser.
How do I get help?
If you have problems setting up your computer to use the Internet, we will help you. Please contact the Balliol Helpdesk by email at or 01865 617135. The University also provides this resource to help students connect to Eduroam.
Note that whilst we will assist you to connect to the network and will help counter virus infections, other problems with your computer remain your concern.