All housing and campus buildings have Wi-Fi coverage. We support connecting any device to our network that doesn't compromise the integrity of the service. This guide is everything you need to know about bringing your smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, streaming devices and everything else to campus!

Smartphones and Tablets

Choosing between Android and iOS phones is entirely up to personal preference, and both are 100% supported by our Wi-Fi network and classroom requirements.

Cellular network coverage can vary from city to city, or even from city block to city block. We don't have any control over carrier signal strength in the city of Holland, but if you are having issues with cell phone coverage, these steps may help:

• Enable Wi-Fi Calling on your Android or iOS device to make phone calls over the campus network
• If you're still having trouble, try disabling HD Voice and/or VoLTE on Android or iOS

 

Free Personal Computer Repair

Are you getting a lot of pop-ups lately? Is your computer running slow? Macbook giving you a sad face? We can help! While we can't promise that we can fix every issue, we have trained staff on hand that are here for you.

Diagnosis and minor fix-ups are free to all Hope College faculty, staff and students.

Computer drop-off hours are during CIT's regular business hours available in the left sidebar. Diagnosis and repair times vary depending on the time of the year.

 

Streaming and Gaming

Nearly all students who consume TV do so over the internet via streaming services on their personal devices. We make an effort to support as many of these devices as possible on our network.

 

 

Supported?	TVs
Yes	Smart TV w/ Wi-Fi
No	Chromecast Built-In
Yes	Over the Air Antennas

 

Chromecast Built-In

• Smart TVs that advertise using “Chromecast Built-in” will not work because Chromecast is not enabled on our network. See the Chromecast section below for more information. 
• Chromecast won't work at most other colleges.
• Chromecasts are designed for home networks and do not work well on a large network like Hope College’s. The protocol that they use would slow a network like ours down dramatically, and was not designed with the security measures necessary for use on large networks. They allow anyone with a connected device to take over your streaming at any time.

Over The Air Antennas

• Some students have had good luck pulling in local channels using an over-the-air HD antenna. Your results may vary depending on your residence hall or cottage location. Make sure you have a TV with a tuner (a coax jack, pictured below). If yours does not, you could purchase an antenna digital converter box and connect it to your TV via HDMI. Let us know if you have any issues!

 

 

Supported?	Streaming Devices
Yes	Amazon Fire Stick/ Fire TV
Yes	Apple TV
Yes	Google TV
Yes	Roku
No	Chromecast

 

Google TV's

• Devices that use the Google TV or Android TV operating system work fine on our network, as long as you have a dedicated remote and use the device to stream content directly from the internet. Your phone or other personal devices will not be able to directly communicate across the network to the device.

Roku

• Using the Roku mobile app to control the Roku is not supported on our network, but the rest of the functionality should work without a problem. Every Roku model comes with a remote that will work just fine. Let us know if you have any issues!

 

 

Supported?	Speakers
Yes	Bluetooth Speakers
Yes	Google Home Devices
Yes	Amazon Echo Devices
No	Sonos

 

Google Home Devices

• The device's Chromecast functionality doesn't work on our network, as well as controlling the device via the Google Home app. See the Chromecast section above for more information. Voice commands and all streaming functionality should work without a problem. Let us know if you have any issues!

 

 

Supported?	Gaming Consoles
Yes	Xbox Series S/ Series X
Yes	Playstation 5
Yes	Nintendo Switch/ Switch Lite
Yes	Xbox One/ One S/ One X
Yes	Playstation 3/ Playstation 4
Yes	Xbox 360/ 360 E/ 360 X
Yes	Nintendo Wii U
No	Nintendo Wii
Yes	Oculus Quest/ Quest 2

 

Playstation 3/ Playstation 4

• Should work without a problem using WiFi. Ethernet ports in residence halls are not active at this time. The original 20GB PS3 does not have WiFi, and will need a USB WiFi dongle to properly connect. Later Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 consoles should all work properly out of the box. Let us know if you have any issues!

Xbox 360/ 360 E/ 360 X

• Should work without a problem using WiFi. Ethernet ports in residence halls are not active at this time. The Xbox 360 E and 360 S have built-in WiFi and will work out of the box. The original Xbox 360 will need an Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Adapter to properly connect. Let us know if you have any issues!

Nintendo Wii

• The Wii can play games from the disc, but Wiis are unable to connect to the internet on campus. The Wii uses older Wi-Fi technology, and if we enabled it on the wireless network, it would slow down all the other devices in the area. For the benefit of other devices, we have turned off the necessary service on the wireless network.

Oculus Quest/ Quest 2

• The Oculus Quest is fully independent VR gaming system that works perfectly with our campus network. You will be unable to cast your screen to a Chromecast attached to a TV, but casting to the companion phone app or to the Oculus website work just fine. See the Chromecast section above for more information.

 

Streaming Services

The internet at Hope College is ready to handle streaming video. Here are some of the popular services that students at Hope tend to like: Netflix (link), Hulu (link), Spotify + Hulu (link), Hulu and Disney+ and ESPN+ (link), Max (link), Amazon Prime Video (link), Sling TV (link), Youtube TV (link), and other network websites (link).

 

Smart Home Devices

There are thousands of Internet of Things ("IoT") devices available today, and the number keeps growing. We have had mixed success connecting these devices to a large network environment like Hope College's. In general, if the device has been designed to talk directly from one device to another (such as from your phone to a speaker or light bulb) over your home network, it will not work correctly on our network. This includes devices like Chromecast or Sonos. If your device uses a centralized cloud service as a middleman, it may work, although we unfortunately can't officially provide support for the myriad of devices and services available.