Princeton, Cornell, George Washington University and the iPad

Does it have something to do with certain routers (Netgear - i.e. mine and D-Link) having issues with MAC addresses beginning 7C.

Fortunately my Netgear uses an XML config file that can be exported, edited and re-imported otherwise my Wi-Fi only iPad would've been rather stuck.

Colleges always seem to go really overkill With their wireless network requirements. Southern polytech in GA uses 802.11x ttyl which the iPad does not support. But I guess the tuition difference explains these school's willingness to accommodate users.

GW's VPN is indeed compatible with the iPhone/iPad, as it uses Cisco IPSec. But the IT department is either too lazy or afraid of the load of the iDevices and so they don't provide the information needed to allow the connection of the devices. The bums.

GW, during my four years of undergrad work, had some of the most bass-ackward technology policies I've ever encountered.

Campus-wide ethernet didn't begin to roll-out until the Fall of 1998 and wasn't really complete by the time I graduated in the Spring of 2001. In the meantime, the only "network" available to students in most of the dorms was what GW called "ISN" which ran at roughly 14.4kbps, provided text-only access through a UNIX system called "GWIS2" and required a monthly adapter rental that was rather costly.

The IT crowd regularly rolled out academic technology that completely omitted Mac support -- it was always fun having to go to the computer lab at some gawdawful hour, just to use a PC for some class assignment, despite having a Powerbook 1400 and a PowerMac 9500 (and a 7500 running as a webserver) in the comfy confines of my apartment.

They built a "new and advanced" email system, because of a cut-rate deal from Sun, that moved at a snails pace and then crashed if more than 500 users connected in the space of an hour and then wiped out the mailstore from the old system when it crashed.

It never occurred to the IT staff that building the server room that housed the university-wide computer system, as well as the file, mail and web servers... and their backup systems in a basement, next to an 80-year-old water main was a bad idea.

(And don't be mistaken -- the incompetence spreads beyond the IT group: for 12 years, GWU students lived in a building called "New Hall," even after newer dorms were built, because the University couldn't find a donor for a building whose foundations were so poorly poured, that it was sinking into the ground of Foggy Bottom at the rate of 2-3 inches per year. In true Stalinist fashion, GW proclaimed the hall's name to have always intended to be "New," and stuck to that story until a rich donor kicked the bucket in 2008, creating Phillip Amsterdam Hall.)

What happened to the good old days when the reported news was at least based on fact? I get the spin on a story but come one. Thanks for clearing up these stories.

Odd how George Washington University(or any other university) doesn't already have a solution since one would think that the university would just offer the same functionality ( as far as connection goes) that they have hitherto offered iPod Touch users - because wireless wise I can't see much difference between the iPad and iPod touch. Aren't there plenty of vpn apps already on the App store(presumably the same one that their ipod touch users would/should have used)?. I can't imagine a university in the united states that doesn't have a couple hundred iPod touch users(at least) who have relied on wifi day in day out and in the process have "iPad-prepped" the school. I know my school had some problems initially.

Why unfortunately?