Name and shame that crappy backwards university.
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Using your own WiFi router also bypasses the wireless security settings to access the school network.
Some resources are only available while on the network (printers, access to library, academic papers, other student hardware). Now imagine a random person in a coffee shop next door had u limited access to these resources via an unmanaged access point.
This isn’t rare and not altogether a bad idea.
My university had a problem of students bringing their own WiFi routers before the dorms had WiFi. Students would set them up incorrectly and cause a series of problems with colliding DHCP servers and interference and it would cause outages for nearby wired students.
A lot of IT departments locked the network down for these reasons.
Students would set them up incorrectly and cause a series of problems with colliding DHCP servers
That's an IT problem, not a user problem. The downstream ports should have been isolated at both the link and packet layers. Configuring a router to share an unrestricted LAN between a dorm full of untrusted users is a disaster waiting to happen.
A lot of Unis have IT on a shoestring budget.Especially the CompSci dept have the most idiotic IT "professionals" working there.
Usually it is the Sciences dept like Mech-E or Tech-E or Elec-E who run massive Compute nodes for Rendering Physics or Fluid dynamics or something something research ....
Unfortunately, the Unis that have massive student dorms on-campus tend not to isolate their networks properly and allow students to directly connect to all depts Networks without any barriers. The isolation happens between LAN and Internet which is where most of the controls and filtering happens.
It would be nice if each dept had their own VPN servers and proper network isolation at the LAN instead of the crazy monkey wiring everything to everything else on-campus.
They don't want you plugging in your own gear to their network, fine.
Get one of the "5G Home Internet" services from T-Mobile or Verizon, plug your router into that.
https://www.t-mobile.com/home-internet
https://www.verizon.com/home/internet/5g/
Not on their network, they have absolutely no say over it.
Since the price mentions British Pound Sterling as currency I dont think Verizon would be there. But T-Mobile is probably there in the UK.
From the wording of the other rules below the highlighted one, I can only assume they mean you can't install a second router that they provide. I mean, it also says you can't install any "owner-supplied" devices.
Mine didn't either when I lived in a dorm. I got around the network block.
- Plug Xbox 360 into ethernet wall port
- Log into uni network, get internet
- Plug router directly into pc.
- Assign router same ip as Xbox
- Spoof router mac address to match xbox
- Unplug from pc
- Quickly swap cable in wall from Xbox cable to router cable, Indiana Jones style
- Internet for 1 month. Repeat monthly.
TIL you aren't a wireless professional until your hacks comes with a cinematic soundtrack.
You're not a wireless professional if you use wired ethernet cables...
Users are often dumb. Imagine 100 people who think they know what they're doing trying to set up a bunch of custom networking.
That's your dorm.
Most dorms either outright prohibit using personal hardware like that or require the schools IT department to install it themselves and set it up.
Run a network of your own someday and you'll understand. It's hard enough to get your own network working perfectly without a bunch of wildcards popping up everywhere.
Not a lawyer but if you have an email that says you can, I'd argue it's override the ToS assuming the person giving permission actually legally can.
Anyway I bet what they avoid is reselling access so I believe as long as you don't pay for yourself then resell to others you'll be OK.
This. The ISP isn't going to care about (or notice) a single person using a router. They will notice and care if 1 person is consuming the data of 20.
Are these restrictions set out by the ISP or the dorm?
If you don't do business with the ISP, then you don't have to agree to and follow their terms.
So as long as the dorms doesn't have rules against setting up your own WiFi, then you should be well within your rights to purchase an Internet connection from another provider, but since you are likely not allowed to get your own line installed, you are probably restricted to ISPs that provide a service over the cellular network.
Of course using a cellular connection will give you worse latencies for online games, but at least you can have your own WiFi with low latency for your VR.
If you want to be nice, you could then run as much of your Internet network over ethernet as possible, so you congest the air waves as little as possible, possibly only running the VR headset over WiFi, and maybe even only enabling the WiFi radio when you want to play VR.
To lower the chance of someone complaining about your WiFi, you should configure it as a "hidden network", such that it doesn't broadcast an SSID, and therefore doesn't show up when people are looking for WiFi networks to connect to.
Mighty unpopular opinion here.
OP you are there at the Uni to learn to grow and pass the course+exams. If you need to do extracurricular activities, please setup time at home, travel home to do those things.
If home is faraway and you still want to do it, find a reliable off-campus-non-dorm location and do your stuff from there.
Your main objective is to get through Uni without falling behind and managing your time and effort wisely. If you fail Uni because you focused too much on non-essential activities, be a responsible adult and accept the results of your adult decisions.
As I understand it, people live in the dorms. Trying to focus on schoolwork 24/7 is an excellent way to burn yourself out and not graduate. Having down time for "non -essential activities" is important for mental health.
Yes but dorms are optional. No one attending Uni is forced to live in the dorms. Uni is not a boarding school at least to my knowledge.
Assuming they have their own wifi, they just don't want you using wifi off of your own router. A wired connection should be fine.