Remote Access to PennNet: Frequently Asked Questions

1. I am a student living in a college house on campus. Do I need to get Internet service from a commercial ISP?

   No. Students living on-campus have ethernet connections in their rooms to the PennNet. You do not need to sign-up for anything.

2. Has the University negotiated preferred rates with ISPs?

   Yes, Penn has arrangements for preferred pricing and services with DCANet, Quadnet, regional ISPs who offer Internet access to Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs. You can read the vendor matrix for more details about other vendors.

3. Do I have to get a new PennConnect DVD and uninstall/reinstall Penn supported software?

   No. If you already have a web browser and email client installed on your computer, there is no need to go and get a new PennConnect DVD to use a new commercial ISP. You, of course, may want to upgrade and make sure you're using the most recent Penn supported products which are available on the PennConnect DVD but in most cases this is not a necessity.

4. Is my email be affected by these differences?

   Users are continue to be able to access their campus-based email accounts just as they did when on-campus. Email clients may need slight reconfiguration since some campus email servers will not allow outgoing email to pass through them for delivery from desktops that are attached to non-Penn networks.

5. Help! I am currently using a commercial ISP but am unable to send outgoing mail to non-Penn email addresses. What can I do?

   Some campus mail servers allow outbound mail relaying only from hosts within the upenn.edu domain. This causes SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) mail relay issues. Users with accounts on pobox, dolphin, mail.med, mail.sas and eniac will need to make minor reconfiguration to their email clients. Users on campus mail servers that do not yet support SMTP Authentication will need to configure their email clients to use their ISPs SMTP mail server.

   You can change your SMTP server address on your mail client (these will vary slightly depending on the mail client you use) using the following list of SMTP servers.

   If you need assistance changing these settings, please contact your Local Support Provider (LSP).

6. Will I still be able to access campus resources from a commercial ISP?

   Absolutely. Penn faculty, students or staff can access campus such as Library databases using a commercial ISP or network other than PennNet. The Library's Proxy Service allows Penn affiliates to access restricted resources. To automatically determine the correct configuration instructions for your web browser to connect to the Library's Proxy, click on the auto-detect link on their main proxy page.

7. I already have an ISP. Do I need to sign up with one of Penn's preferred ISPs?

   No. You do not have to switch if you are successfully and happily using a commercial ISP already.

8. Will I be able to use BEN Financials and other central administrative services using a commercial ISP?

   Yes. Remote access to the University's administrative systems such as BEN Financials and the DataWarehouse is possible but will require some client configuration changes. Instructions for installing and configuring Ben Financials software are available or you can contact your Local Support Provider for assistance.

9. I've heard about security concerns specific to high-speed connections. What are they and how much do they affect me?

   From a security perspective, DSL (and Cable Modem) networks are not very different from analog modem-based dial-up networks. They connect users to ISPs and the Internet using IP as their network protocol. However, DSL and Cable Modems are more attractive than dialup connections to hackers for the same reasons that make them more attractive to users. The always-connected nature of these networks result in users often staying online much longer, making them more vulnerable to attack attempts since a hacker has a longer window of opportunity to make their move. There are, however, recommended precautions (such as switching off your computer when not using the system for extended periods) that can be taken to prevent security problems before they happen.