Airport express in dorm

[rayjay86]

Hi guys,

I'm heading back to school in a month and one of the things lacking in that dorm is wifi. All computers need to access the internet via the supplied ethernet cable.

I asked some current students about bringing my own router and they said it was allowed by "frowned upon" by the admin because it messes with the internet in the small space...whatever that means.

One student said she used an airport express and it worked perfectly and was allowed.

I was under the impression that an airport express and my linksys would both be acting as a router.

Is there any reason I should drop the $99 and get the airport express versus the linksys that I already have that I know works flawlessly?

 

[GGJstudios]

Is there any reason I should drop the $99 and get the airport express versus the linksys that I already have that I know works flawlessly?

Whether the AE works or not isn't the issue. It doesn't matter which router you use to create a WiFi network if your school forbids them.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

I was under the impression that an airport express and my linksys would both be acting as a router.

You can turn off the router in the Airport Express quite easily ("bridge mode"), and same setting should be available in your Linksys router as well. If you do this it will not mess with your school's internal network.

Just attach the router with a network cable directly to your own computer first before hooking it up to the school network and make the change. Non-Apple routers typically have a web browser interface that you reach by typing "192.168.1.1" or "192.168.0.1" (minus quotes) into your browser's address bar. Then you're all set.

Oh, and you should request permission to use your own wifi router all the same; in my country it wouldn't be a biggie, but the US is considerably more authoritarian so you wouldn't want to get in trouble with your school over something as simple as you not wanting to use a network patch cable to connect to the internet...