The Los Altos High School Information Technology (IT) Department is enabling a new wireless network starting Monday, May 1. 

In order to access this new network, all users will be required to enter their MVLA username and password. This process is called radius authentication, according to Director of IT Services Bob Fishtrom, and will ensure that only authorized users are connected to the network. 

“This is all because of security,” Fishtrom said. “For example, when you log into the current LAHS-Student network, everybody uses the same password, and it’s just not good practice.”

Students with their own devices should restart them before connecting to the new network on Monday, as recommended by MVLA IT. 

In addition to the new wireless network, the IT Department is working on installing more outdoor wireless access points across campus to improve the connection in areas outside of classrooms. 

“That’s probably the biggest change happening at LAHS this summer,” Fishtrom said. “We are working hard to make the system far more robust and help students stay connected.”