A Brief History of Wireless Service at Pitt

Pitt Information Technology launched a pilot wireless program in 2002. We provided access in a number of areas on the Pittsburgh campus, including Hillman Library, the Cathedral Commons Room, the Petersen Events Center food court, and a study area in Wesley W. Posvar Hall.

In December 2006, we launched our PittNet Wi-Fi service by activating wireless in five campus buildings: Allen Hall, Thaw Hall, Old Engineering Hall, the Space Research Coordination Center and Nuclear Physics Laboratory.

By August 2007, most academic buildings on campus had PittNet Wi-Fi service, as well as the common rooms and study areas of University residence halls.

In December 2007, we launched the PittNet Guest Wi-Fi service to provide short-term wireless access to individuals visiting Pitt on official University business.

In June 2012, Pitt began its participation in Eduroam (short for education roaming), which enables students, faculty, and staff to use their University email address and password to obtain wireless internet access at more than 2,000 participating institutions around the world.

In the summer of 2013, we expanded PittNet Wi-Fi service to all residence hall rooms on the Pittsburgh campus. We also replaced and upgraded the wireless access points in campus classrooms.

In the summer of 2015, we introduced Wireless-PittNet-Fast, a companion network to PittNet Wi-Fi that provides faster wireless speeds for newer devices.

In the summer of 2017, we added more than 300 access points to the residence halls on the Pittsburgh campus.

In the summer of 2019, MyResNet became the Wi-Fi service provider in residence halls on the Pittsburgh campus.

In the summer of 2020, we simplified the connection process by combining Wireless PittNet and Wireless-PittNet-Fast into a single network named Wireless PittNet.