How to Connect Your Smart Devices to Biola WiFi
Summary
How to register and connect your devices to Biola's new UDN-based bu-eagles WiFi network
Body
Purpose
Whether you're bringing an Xbox, Apple TV, Alexa, or a WiFi printer to campus, our bu-eagles network is designed specifically for your smart home and IoT devices. Because many of these devices don't support the advanced WPA3-Enterprise security required by our main campus network, they need to be registered before they can get online.
Your Own Personal Network
When you register your devices with the My Devices Portal, you create your own personal network (User Defined Network (UDN)). Devices connected to bu-eagles communicate with your other devices (like laptops or phones) connected to Biola-NetID when you register those devices using this process.
How to Get Connected
- Find your true MAC address: Locate the MAC address in your device's network settings.
- Register your device: Log in to the My Devices Portal and register your device using its MAC address.
- Connect to WiFi: Once registered, go back to your device's settings and connect to the bu-eagles WiFi network.
Crucial Tip for a Stable Connection
You must use your device's true hardware MAC address. If your device has a setting for a randomized, rotating, or privacy-protecting MAC address, you will need to disable it. Using a private/randomized MAC address will prevent your device from connecting to Biola WiFi.
IoT Device Registration (Xbox, WiFi printers, Alexa, AppleTV, etc.)
Please have the following ready when registering your wireless device for use on bu-eagles WiFi:
- A Device Name (a unique name to identify your device from any others you may have.)
- A Device Description (a short description of the device: TV, Game Console, etc.)
- The Device's MAC Address (The MAC address is the unique identifier of your device and looks like this: 0A-B1-02-C3-04-D5 or 00:01:02:03:04:05, etc.)
Adding IoT Devices to Your UDN
- Go to the My Devices Portal: https://biola.splashudn.com/
- Click the "I agree" checkbox, then click Continue and sign in using your Biola credentials.
- Click the Generate Password button to create your bu-eagles WPA2 WiFi password.
- Add up to 20 device MAC Addresses, Device Names, and Descriptions, and click Add to save them to your UDN.
- Connect these devices to the bu-eagles WiFi network. Use the password that was generated in the portal to connect.
Add Phones & Laptops To Your UDN
In order to allow all your personal devices to work with each other, they all must be registered in the My Devices Portal (https://biola.splashudn.com/) to be placed into your User Defined Network (UDN).
To add your phone or laptop to your UDN, do the following:
- Go to the My Devices Portal: https://biola.splashudn.com/
- Click the "I agree" checkbox, then click Continue and sign in using your Biola credentials.
- Add your phone's or laptop's MAC Address, Device Name, and Description, and click Add to save it to your UDN.
Note
The My Devices Portal requires registering with your device's true MAC address for a stable connection. Using a randomized, rotating, or privacy-protecting Wi-Fi MAC address will prevent you from connecting your device to Biola WiFi networks.
Troubleshooting
- Occasionally, the check function will return no error even when a device has been registered in the UDN portal. You will need to delete the device from your UDN and re-register to see if the connectivity issue clears.
Details
Details
Article ID:
19648
Created
Thu 8/28/25 2:27 PM
Modified
Mon 8/31/26 6:43 PM
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The Biola networks are the property of Biola University and have been established to facilitate an exchange of information that is consistent with the academic, educational, and research purposes of Biola University.