internet in student halls: wifi?

[ashjamben]

just a quick question i'm hoping someone with more knowledge than me about networking and what not.

basically i'm moving into student halls and for the internet its about £140 for the year, which is pretty steep. it basically works by plugging an ethernet cable from the wall into the computer.

i read the leaflet and it goes on to say things like 'if it recognises more than one IP address it will be disconnected' and also says something about mac addresses

so, does anyone know if its possible to set up a wireless network without them detecting it?

i'm pretty sure each peripheral on a network has an IP address, is that right? so by adding a wireless router would be the 1, plus each laptop connected would be another?

i do remember seeing a USB dongle that shared any internet connection you had wirelessly, but cant find one anymore, anywhere.

anyone any advice?

thanks

 

[blacksheepblues]

I don't know if your uni will be like mine, but mine was rubbish. The halls of residence had some strange propriatary system, which didn't work with *anything* other than the cables which you had to buy from the uni itself. I can't remember exactly, it was a few years ago now, but I seem to recall that the cable plugged into the computers modem/phone jack, despite being (supposedly) broadband. It was impossble to download anything 'of interest' as everything was logged and you got automatically cut off if they thought you'd breached their terms in any way (happened to quite a lot of people who were doing perfectly innocent/legal stuff). The speed was rubbish anyway.

In the end a dozen or so people just clubbed together and got our own broadband (with cables strung between buildings via windows!), messy but it worked.

Sorry if this hasn't been very useful. Though I'm sure you're system can't be as rubbish as ours was!

 

[blacksheepblues]

In fact, now I think of it you best bet these days would probably be a dongle like this one. Ive seen them going for £10/month - still less than £140/year!

 

[ashjamben]

yeah ive been contemplating a usb dongle, t mobile do one for 15 quid a month with unlimited downloads. but if we can share the internet between us it'll be even cheaper.

also, been thinking about getting broadband ourselves, but not sure if line rental and other things will come into the equation