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Wireless Routers Banned From My Dorm
- Thread starter rrm74001
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I know exactly what dorm you live in. You might want to take the text of the original e-mail out of your post as it's very easily identifiable, especially with the added description of our hilarious network setup. I stumbled across this googling "wireless router in dorm". Second page.
Actually, I work for the Office of Information Technology here at my college, and yes it does screw with the network. It has something to do with assigning IP addresses apparently.
Most of the colleges I've seen have MAC address registration that prevents this, but then again, there are those who spoof the router's MAC address to get around it--at least that usually means they know how to configure their routers, though, and perhaps disable DHCP.
Without reading the other posts, I'm going to blindly step in here...
At my school, routers are allowed, but not wireless. I go to a tech school, so people may have multiple computers, networked printers, game consoles, etc, so there's a reason why a lot of kids have routers. I have one in my room because my roommate and I both have iPhones and have apps that sync. We also both have wireless printres. Even with clever naming, an unbroadcasted SSID, and encryption, they managed to find out that my room had a wireless router. How did they do this? I have no idea... I'm actually applying for a position at the office that provides telecommunications services to my school, so maybe I'll find out, but they have their ways.
And if they do figure out it was you, the consequences can go from a warning to having your room's internet revoked. And yes, they can and may do that.
At my school, routers are allowed, but not wireless. I go to a tech school, so people may have multiple computers, networked printers, game consoles, etc, so there's a reason why a lot of kids have routers. I have one in my room because my roommate and I both have iPhones and have apps that sync. We also both have wireless printres. Even with clever naming, an unbroadcasted SSID, and encryption, they managed to find out that my room had a wireless router. How did they do this? I have no idea... I'm actually applying for a position at the office that provides telecommunications services to my school, so maybe I'll find out, but they have their ways.
And if they do figure out it was you, the consequences can go from a warning to having your room's internet revoked. And yes, they can and may do that.
I worked as a student tech all four years of undergrad (yes we knew what we were doing 
). For what its worth, and speaking only from my experience:
1. We didn't allow wireless routers because they did indeed take down the internet for entire buildings.
2. Our network staff could absolutely locate routers remotely.
Your network setup sounds very different from what we had in the dorms (we just had ethernet ports in the wall) so I, like others here have said, am not sure as to the specific capabilities of your school.
We first asked people nicely over the phone to remove them. If they didn't than their ports would be turned off until they could prove that they had complied.
Best of luck!
). For what its worth, and speaking only from my experience:1. We didn't allow wireless routers because they did indeed take down the internet for entire buildings.
2. Our network staff could absolutely locate routers remotely.
Your network setup sounds very different from what we had in the dorms (we just had ethernet ports in the wall) so I, like others here have said, am not sure as to the specific capabilities of your school.
We first asked people nicely over the phone to remove them. If they didn't than their ports would be turned off until they could prove that they had complied.
Best of luck!
Play dumb
Perhaps you should ask your IT people what exactly a wireless router is. Maybe their answer won't apply to a cheap-ass linux box configured to create a wireless network, maybe you could configure it to use Bluetooth as the wireless internet connection thus negating the need for Wi-fi.
Quote:
by using wireless routers when we dont have wireless internet youre not only stealing wireless from someone not affiliated with this building youre wasting our money that pays the internet bill every month, and youre causing the internet to go down to the entire building
/Quote
This is the line that confuses me, if your wireless comes from an outside source, how does it affect the buildings connection, wouldn't this cause less load on the wired network? Why does the ban only apply to wireless-routers, how is this different from the same network using a wired connection?
It sounds to me like someone may be using the network in an un-friendly manner (hogging the bandwidth for torrents, or sharing a single connection to save money)and everyone is being made to suffer for it.
Perhaps you should ask your IT people what exactly a wireless router is. Maybe their answer won't apply to a cheap-ass linux box configured to create a wireless network, maybe you could configure it to use Bluetooth as the wireless internet connection thus negating the need for Wi-fi.
Quote:
by using wireless routers when we dont have wireless internet youre not only stealing wireless from someone not affiliated with this building youre wasting our money that pays the internet bill every month, and youre causing the internet to go down to the entire building
/Quote
This is the line that confuses me, if your wireless comes from an outside source, how does it affect the buildings connection, wouldn't this cause less load on the wired network? Why does the ban only apply to wireless-routers, how is this different from the same network using a wired connection?
It sounds to me like someone may be using the network in an un-friendly manner (hogging the bandwidth for torrents, or sharing a single connection to save money)and everyone is being made to suffer for it.