I just got back from my college orientation and discovered that wifi coverage in the dorms is spotty to say the least so I need to be able to plug in. The Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter would be the better choice correct? If I am not mistaken it is quite faster and I also do not use any other thunderbolt devices so it would leave usb ports open.
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Thunderbolt to Ethernet vs. USB to Ethernet
- Thread starter BertoM
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Does your Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter support FAXING? I think not!
Thunderbolt ethernet allows for the full gigabit. Apple's USB Ethernet is limited to 100mbps.
Only reason I'd take the USB ethernet is if I wanted to use a displayport monitor and didn't have two thunderbolt ports.
Only reason I'd take the USB ethernet is if I wanted to use a displayport monitor and didn't have two thunderbolt ports.
If you know what you're doing, you can pretty easily hide the router from most detection routines. I spoofed a PCI NIC's Mac address, incremented the TTL by one, and did not broadcast my SSID. Never got caught.
I would try a router (with DD-WRT firmware) in repeater mode or client first. For me it would seem to be a more versatile option as it'll provide wifi access more than just your one laptop.
They have a pretty strict policy with altering with the "state's network" (their words). I have inferred that their objective is to limit everyone to a single connection so that they do not have to support a greater number of connections and bandwidth as they might have to if everyone had a wireless router.
Pretty much exact same wording my school used.
The main reason for the restrictions is because of the potential for rogue DHCP servers. Basically, if someone plugs the ethernet from the school into one of the LAN ports instead of the WAN ports, the router will try to assign an IP to all the computers on the school network. Which just results in chaos.
I don't think it's a bandwidth issue because most schools have a bandwidth limit. I think mine was 10GB/week IIRC. And for whatever reason, they didn't meter you if you used Wifi though. My friend was lucky enough to have a dorm in a really strong WiFi location - He would regularly pull 50mbps down and have no bandwidth restrictions.
I'm going to be a freshman and yeah, college dorm internet sucks. Big time. Really anywhere on my campus except for a couple of buildings have horrrrible bandwith. There's just too many people. Even when wired the speeds were still terrible. However, I did also hide my network and never had one complaint or anything said about it, so go ahead and bend the rules. Y'all are right in that the limitation is strictly there so people can't abuse more than one connection for those that actually need it (when you have a big assignment due the next day and your DL speed is .8 mbps, it hurts...), but if everyone else is doing it... 
Actually, there is an available ASIX's AX88179 USB 3.0 to Gigabit solution, you can consider using on MBA now. You can search and purchase the AX88179 USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet dongles from Internet and get the Mac OSX driver from ASIX web site (http://www.asix.com.tw/download.php?...il&PItemID=131). FYI.