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MAC Address Randomization

Most modern smartphones, laptops, and tablets use MAC address randomization by default. This means your device generates a temporary, random MAC address each time it connects to a new Wi-Fi network — which is great for privacy on public networks, but causes issues when your device needs to be identified by a consistent address, like in our registration system.

Why it matters

When you register your device, we authorize the specific MAC address you provide. If your device keeps changing its MAC address, the network won’t recognize it as registered — and you’ll either get blocked from connecting or be asked to register again and again.

How to fix it

To avoid this, you’ll need to disable MAC address randomization for our campus Wi-Fi network on your device. This ensures it always uses the same, consistent MAC address when connecting here.

We have step-by-step instructions for turning this off below.

Android
  • Go to Wi-Fi settings
  • Long-press CU Online or CU Online Secure
  • Select Modify
  • Under Privacy, select Use device MAC
Apple iOS
  • Go to Wi-Fi settings
  • Select CU Online or CU Online Secure
  • Change Private Wi-Fi Address to Off
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