This post was written by Hatchet reporter Amelia Williams. 

GW announced the launch of a wireless service Wednesday that allows students, faculty and staff to access the internet with their GW NetID when they visit other universities.

Eduroam, which is short for “education roaming,” is already used in more than 5,800 global institutions, including Georgetown University and University of Maryland at College Park.

David Steinour, GW’s chief information officer, said in an email that the incorporation of eduroam will provide for easier communication with other top research institutions. He said the simplicity of the mere access to the internet was what made the program special.

“This alleviates the issue of either paying for Internet service at an Internet café or having to connect to a local Starbucks or other free Wifi hotspot with potentially costly, limited or slow connections,” he said. “Additionally, eduroam’s secure connection helps protect the GW community from security threats.”

He added that the program has already seen success at GW when launched Wednesday morning, with visitors from other eduroam-using universities immediately jumping online.

“Within a 12-hour time span, more than 4,670 devices successfully logged in to the eduroam service, all of which belonged to users from other visiting universities who have been using this service,” Steinour said.

A complete list of U.S. universities that use eduroam is here.