Apple TV on university wifi

[squidkitten]

Hey so I've been thinking about getting the newest Apple TV recently, but I'm concerned about how my University's wifi will affect it.

The way my roommate's dad explained it was that there are tons of different wifi ports and connections in the school, and each computer/tablet/game console/device connects to whatever is available at the time of connecting. For this reason, I can't use the remote app with my MBP because they're on different ports at different times, despite being on the same network.

The ATV doesn't have Hulu+ built in, and I really want to connect my MBP/iPad to the ATV (AirPlay Mirroring I think it's called?) to watch some Community or something.

Does anyone know if that whole thing is going to be affected by the wifi situation here at school as my remote app is? The whole point of me getting ATV is being able to cancel my stupidly expensive XBOX Live account and still get to watch Netflix/Hulu, and also begin to digitize my movie collection…but I don't want to spend the money if it's not going to work well at school.

 

[lil' brudder]

Here's my question: is there any sharing allowed on the university network? I know many big networks like that use a technology that isolates devices in order to increase security and performance. I'm not sure quite what your friend's dad is talking about, but it seems feasible since you don't have hundreds of libraries available to share in your iTunes. However, given that your computer and the TV will be in the same region, they will probably be connecting to the same access point. My recommendation would be to check if you can share with other devices in the same area as your MBP. If sharing works, you may be alright, though I'm not sure how good performance would be.

 

[hafr]

Hey so I've been thinking about getting the newest Apple TV recently, but I'm concerned about how my University's wifi will affect it.

The way my roommate's dad explained it was that there are tons of different wifi ports and connections in the school, and each computer/tablet/game console/device connects to whatever is available at the time of connecting. For this reason, I can't use the remote app with my MBP because they're on different ports at different times, despite being on the same network.

The ATV doesn't have Hulu+ built in, and I really want to connect my MBP/iPad to the ATV (AirPlay Mirroring I think it's called?) to watch some Community or something.

Does anyone know if that whole thing is going to be affected by the wifi situation here at school as my remote app is? The whole point of me getting ATV is being able to cancel my stupidly expensive XBOX Live account and still get to watch Netflix/Hulu, and also begin to digitize my movie collection…but I don't want to spend the money if it's not going to work well at school.

What you do is you ask the IT responsible at your uni about it, since none of us will have any clue about how their network is set up.

Or maybe you could bypass it completely by creating a wifi hotspot on your MBP and let the ATV and iPad connect to that network?

 

[ZZ Bottom]

Does the school provide ethernet ports that you have access to? One thought is that you could set up your own personal router, providing it doesn't break some school policy.

 

[bwthor]

If you are accessing Wi-Fi on the same network from the AppleTV and iPad/iPod or the remote app on your Mac it should work. Now the main issue is most likely your University blocking bonjour through some firewall rules. Quick check would be to fire up iTunes. If you see a ton of other iTunes libraries available for sharing, Bonjour is not blocked by a firewall, so the remote apps should as well. If you don't see a bunch, chances are the remote apps won't work either.

The U that I work at has most of their buildings on separate networks segments by IP address. The entire wireless network throughout the whole campus is set up on its own network, and has only one public IP for all the wireless clients. They did open up the Bonjour ports on the wireless after many requests for it, so you may be able to get it going if you start asking the right people.

 

[squidkitten]

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll go and talk to one of the tech guys and see if they can give me clarification relevant to the specifics of our network. Hopefully it works out!

 

[squidkitten]

Just an update:

I went to the University computer store to ask them about ATV, and they told me that while it would work on the Network to play content stored to iCloud or Netflix, it won't be capable of AirPlay Mirroring because they closed the school's network to connections like that so there wouldn't be a ton of connections going back and forth all over the place.

It's a little disappointing. I guess I'll just wait until I move to my own place with my own connection before I buy ATV, or I'll just have to suck it up and keep paying for XBOX Live to watch Hulu.

Is there a way to connect my MBP to the ATV to do screen mirroring, or would I just have to buy the HDMI connector and connect directly to my TV?

 

[hafr]

Just an update:

I went to the University computer store to ask them about ATV, and they told me that while it would work on the Network to play content stored to iCloud or Netflix, it won't be capable of AirPlay Mirroring because they closed the school's network to connections like that so there wouldn't be a ton of connections going back and forth all over the place.

It's a little disappointing. I guess I'll just wait until I move to my own place with my own connection before I buy ATV, or I'll just have to suck it up and keep paying for XBOX Live to watch Hulu.

Is there a way to connect my MBP to the ATV to do screen mirroring, or would I just have to buy the HDMI connector and connect directly to my TV?

As I said before: Or maybe you could bypass it completely by creating a wifi hotspot on your MBP and let the ATV and iPad connect to that network?

 

[squidkitten]

As I said before: Or maybe you could bypass it completely by creating a wifi hotspot on your MBP and let the ATV and iPad connect to that network?

Sorry. How would I create a wifi hotspot on my MBP?

 

[crewkid89]

In order to create a wifi hotspot you must be connected to the Internet through your Ethernet. Then go to sharing, Internet sharing, and share through wifi. Make sure you setup a password so whole dorm isn't connecting to your Mac.

 

[squidkitten]

In order to create a wifi hotspot you must be connected to the Internet through your Ethernet. Then go to sharing, Internet sharing, and share through wifi. Make sure you setup a password so whole dorm isn't connecting to your Mac.

I looked up some tutorials, and I tried doing that, but I get a drop down menu saying "Port" and it lists off something like 14 different ports? And then I select one, and it still says "Internet sharing is off". I'm not sure if it's just me not doing it properly, or my school's wifi being difficult.

I'll try to tweak with it some more, and get some caps as well so you can see what I'm talking about.

So it's not necessary for me to have AirPort Extreme/Express to do this?

 

[squidkitten]

Actually, I just created a network, I just can't seem to get my iPhone to actually connect with it. I see the name of my network pop up, and I enter in my password correctly, but it still shows the "3G" at the top, and when I open the Remote app it says I'm not connected to a wifi network.

I tried on my iPad as well, and I managed to get the little wifi symbol at the top corner, but if I try accessing a page on Safari, it says I'm not connected to a wifi network.

Oh well. There must be something with our SafeConnect software or something that is preventing me from creating a separate network off of the university wifi.

This was cool to learn, though! I'm excited to try something like this next time I'm stuck at a hotel that just has a single ethernet cable instead of wifi

 

[Old Smuggler]

I would connect through ethernet and create your own wifi network

 

[squidkitten]

I would connect through ethernet and create your own wifi network

I've tried that :/ My devices recognize that the network exists, and I enter the password, but I can't actually connect to the internet while attached to it. I don't know if there's something with our network preventing this sort of thing, or if I just did it wrong.

 

[hafr]

Actually, I just created a network, I just can't seem to get my iPhone to actually connect with it. I see the name of my network pop up, and I enter in my password correctly, but it still shows the "3G" at the top, and when I open the Remote app it says I'm not connected to a wifi network.

I tried on my iPad as well, and I managed to get the little wifi symbol at the top corner, but if I try accessing a page on Safari, it says I'm not connected to a wifi network.

Oh well. There must be something with our SafeConnect software or something that is preventing me from creating a separate network off of the university wifi.

This was cool to learn, though! I'm excited to try something like this next time I'm stuck at a hotel that just has a single ethernet cable instead of wifi

I just tried creating a wifi hotspot at home, and at first it didn't work. I went to Settings, Sharing, Internet Sharing. Share from: Ethernet, To computers uring: Wi-Fi. Then Wi-Fi settings to choose a password, then I activated Internet Sharing. For some reason, I had the same problem as you - connected to the network with my iPhone but no internet access. So I redid the steps and then it worked...

But just to be clear, when you say you're entering your password, you are talking about the password that you set for the network in the sharing options, and not your university network password?

 

[squidkitten]

I just tried creating a wifi hotspot at home, and at first it didn't work. I went to Settings, Sharing, Internet Sharing. Share from: Ethernet, To computers uring: Wi-Fi. Then Wi-Fi settings to choose a password, then I activated Internet Sharing. For some reason, I had the same problem as you - connected to the network with my iPhone but no internet access. So I redid the steps and then it worked...

But just to be clear, when you say you're entering your password, you are talking about the password that you set for the network in the sharing options, and not your university network password?

Yep, entering in the password I set in my network options. I'll try again after class tomorrow and see if I get different results.

Thanks!

 

[thatoneguy82]

Hey so I've been thinking about getting the newest Apple TV recently, but I'm concerned about how my University's wifi will affect it.

The way my roommate's dad explained it was that there are tons of different wifi ports and connections in the school, and each computer/tablet/game console/device connects to whatever is available at the time of connecting. For this reason, I can't use the remote app with my MBP because they're on different ports at different times, despite being on the same network.

The ATV doesn't have Hulu+ built in, and I really want to connect my MBP/iPad to the ATV (AirPlay Mirroring I think it's called?) to watch some Community or something.

Does anyone know if that whole thing is going to be affected by the wifi situation here at school as my remote app is? The whole point of me getting ATV is being able to cancel my stupidly expensive XBOX Live account and still get to watch Netflix/Hulu, and also begin to digitize my movie collection…but I don't want to spend the money if it's not going to work well at school.

I didn't know you can do AirPlay with Hulu. I just tried right now with my iPad and ATV and I don't see the usual AirPlay option. I don't know if it can even done with a wired a connected via HDMI. HBO GO doesn't allow it, but Netflix does. And, also, Netflix doesn't have an AirPlay option. So, all of this may be moot if you're trying to get these 2 services via AirPlay.

If I misspoke, please someone correct me. I would love to know if it can be done via AirPlay, the HBO app especially (yea,right). The most the Hulu app can probably do is what Netflix does: using the HDMI output cable to have it displayed on your TV.

 

[squidkitten]

I didn't know you can do AirPlay with Hulu. I just tried right now with my iPad and ATV and I don't see the usual AirPlay option. I don't know if it can even done with a wired a connected via HDMI. HBO GO doesn't allow it, but Netflix does. And, also, Netflix doesn't have an AirPlay option. So, all of this may be moot if you're trying to get these 2 services via AirPlay.

Oooh I must be misinformed, then! So there's no way for me to play Hulu from my MBP screen onto my TV using ATV? I would only be able to do this with the HDMI cable?

I was given the impression that I could just mirror my iPad/MBP screen onto my TV using ATV, but it seems like the man at Best Buy wasn't really sure what he was talking about haha.

Well I suppose that in the end I can just get ATV for everything, and use HDMI for Hulu when I need to. I guess now that I have an iPad, I don't really have to worry about giving up web surfing while having my MBP plugged into the TV.

Thanks!

 

[AdrianK]

So there's no way for me to play Hulu from my MBP screen onto my TV using ATV?

I think most people were referring to streaming from an iOS device, since Air Play mirroring is only available on OS X in the yet-to-be-released 10.8 Mountain Lion.

There won't be any restrictions for what you can and can't stream over AirPlay on a Mac, so Hulu will work.

 

[thatoneguy82]

Oooh I must be misinformed, then! So there's no way for me to play Hulu from my MBP screen onto my TV using ATV? I would only be able to do this with the HDMI cable?

I was given the impression that I could just mirror my iPad/MBP screen onto my TV using ATV, but it seems like the man at Best Buy wasn't really sure what he was talking about haha.

Well I suppose that in the end I can just get ATV for everything, and use HDMI for Hulu when I need to. I guess now that I have an iPad, I don't really have to worry about giving up web surfing while having my MBP plugged into the TV.

Thanks!

Yeah, that seems to be the case. It's probably some sort of proprietary thing with Hulu. MBP to your TV works, without needing to own an ATV and same goes for an iPad if you do a HDMI connection. But, to do AirPlay, you need to have an ATV. I never trust anything Best Buy employees say. I kind of wish AirPlay to ATV worked in every video that's played on the iPad, regardless of the app it is playing in. While the HDMI connection is possible, it's just inconvenient. I have Hulu+ on my Bravia TV, so I just use that instead. My only thing that is missing is HBO GO, which I'm stuck to watching on my iPad.

 

[squidkitten]

I think most people were referring to streaming from an iOS device, since Air Play mirroring is only available on OS X in the yet-to-be-released 10.8 Mountain Lion.

There won't be any restrictions for what you can and can't stream over AirPlay on a Mac, so Hulu will work.

Ooooooh so I can expect to be able to do AirPlay mirroring from my Mac to my Apple TV when the Mountain Lion upgrade comes out?

I mean I still have the network issues here on campus, so I'll still be stuck using HDMI for Hulu, but it's better than paying an absurd amount of money for XBOX Live just so I can use the Hulu and Netflix apps.

 

[AdrianK]

Ooooooh so I can expect to be able to do AirPlay mirroring from my Mac to my Apple TV when the Mountain Lion upgrade comes out?

Not on the MBP in your signature unfortunately, due to the requirement of QuickSync

 

[squidkitten]

Not on the MBP in your signature unfortunately, due to the requirement of QuickSync

siiiiigh and I probably won't be upgrading until after I finish my undergrad.
Okay, thanks for letting me know!