As an exchange-student you should never sign a contract for a whole or two years! Never! It has happened more than once that exchange-students got bad recommendations from professional providers. If you sign one of those flatrate-contracts it may take several months until you get access at home. Afterwards, it may be very difficult to get out of the contract.

Teleport:

The company “teleport” is the official provider for internet of the University of Münster (http://www.teleport-muenster.de/) In the section “Auftrag/Informationen” you can order the package and the speed you need. The form is in German only. You can contact us if you have trouble filling out the form. In the section “Tarife und Produkte” you will find more information on Teleport’s offers.

Private providers:

If you opt for a private provider, e.g. for a UMTS-Stick for your notebook, make sure that you don’t sign a long-term contract, even if that means that the rates are pretty high. Due to the nature of the ever changing offers we can’t recommend any provider in particular. We suggest that you just go to Salzstr. and ask for the latest offers personally. Most providers have a shop in that street. For mobile phones we recommend using SIM-cards without a contract.

Cafés with free WLAN-hotspots:

Using the Uni-Net on your laptop

In the university buildings (libraries, seminar rooms) you can use the uni-network virtually everywhere. Configuring your connection unfortunately is pretty difficult, especially when you use Windows Vista. You will find extensive manuals on the website of the ZIV (Zentrum für Informationsverarbeitung)

Here’s manual for setting up a wifi connection

VPN-connection(Virtual Private Network)

There’s a possibility of using practically all university online ressources on your own computer. In case you want to use special databases, bibliographies or just read a German newspaper, you should establish a VPN-connection with the uni-network. You’ll have to install a small software (client) in order to do so Here’s a manual: http://www.uni-muenster.de/ZIV/en/Anleitungen/VPN_Anleitung.html

Once the connection is established you can access the online ressources.

Just use the ULB-catalogue (http://superfix.uni-muenster.de/Katalog/start.do) and look up “Süddeutsche Zeitung Archiv”, activate the VPN-connection and finally click on the link to the University of Regensburg.  (http://librarynet.szarchiv.de/Portal/restricted/index.jsp)

Important note: For the VPN-connection you need a so-called “Netzzugangspasswort” (net access password). It differs from the “zentrales Standardpasswort” (central standard password). In order to set a “Netzzugangspasswort” you have to go to https://mein-ziv.uni-muenster.de/index.php and shoose a new one. It has to be different from your standard password.

Another important note: File-sharing is illegal. But if you’re on the VPN-Network and file-sharing at the same time, the violation counts double, as it is explicitly prohibited to use the university network for illegal activities. Do not use file-sharing services at any time, otherwise you may face legal action.