Calling all Network experts - basic question
Discussion
Thanks for reading...
My daughter has just started at university and has a place in halls. The in halls wifi is pretty poor, slow and unstable. We have noted that there is an ethernet port in her room and they have supplied a cat 5 cable in her drawer.
With my really basic understanding, could i plug my old Sky router into the ethernet port and configure her own wifi network based on the university network?
None of her modern devices have an ethernet connection, so we cant plug directly into the port. But could set up a wifi network.
My thoughts are that if her current wifi is limited by coverage, this will solve the issue and occasionally the network prioritises physical connections over WiFi connections.
Please go easy - I am no expert!
My daughter has just started at university and has a place in halls. The in halls wifi is pretty poor, slow and unstable. We have noted that there is an ethernet port in her room and they have supplied a cat 5 cable in her drawer.
With my really basic understanding, could i plug my old Sky router into the ethernet port and configure her own wifi network based on the university network?
None of her modern devices have an ethernet connection, so we cant plug directly into the port. But could set up a wifi network.
My thoughts are that if her current wifi is limited by coverage, this will solve the issue and occasionally the network prioritises physical connections over WiFi connections.
Please go easy - I am no expert!
Depends on a couple of things - you’d need to find out whether the port is enabled and actually has internet access (many Unis use network access control to protect from unauthorised devices accessing the network) first - then you’d need to set up the router to operate in AP only mode (if it can) and disable DHCP. You should be able to find guides for your router on Google etc.
Other options are a USB to Ethernet dongle or a cheap access point. Again, both depend on whether the port is active and will give Internet access…..
Other options are a USB to Ethernet dongle or a cheap access point. Again, both depend on whether the port is active and will give Internet access…..
I didn't think about the USB ethernet adaptor. For the sake of around a tenner on Amazon, i will try this first and foremost. I don't want her to get into any trouble at university and this seems the way forward.
We can try the router technique at a later date once I get more comfortable with whats what.
We can try the router technique at a later date once I get more comfortable with whats what.
Almost certainly specifically banned by the acceptable use conditions that she will have signed up to, and I would expect the university computing service to come down pretty hard on this, for very good reasons.
The poor wifi comment does surprise me, as my experience of halls is that the wifi is universally excellent. But either way and as above: creating your own wifi network is going to be very unpopular with the authorities.
What devices is she trying to connect that don't have ethernet? If it's a laptop then USB to ethernet is as said is a very acceptable solution.
The poor wifi comment does surprise me, as my experience of halls is that the wifi is universally excellent. But either way and as above: creating your own wifi network is going to be very unpopular with the authorities.
What devices is she trying to connect that don't have ethernet? If it's a laptop then USB to ethernet is as said is a very acceptable solution.
Thanks Deckster - I thought that the university would welcome this sort of inginuity, especially as she is on a computer science course!! (I joke).....
Its good to know what they will not tolerate - so thanks for the warning.
She has a couple of MS surface machines which are used to control VMs for her studies and also for Zoom meetings home. Young'ens also use their phone a hell of a lot for whatsapp video calling etc - I have spoken to her and one machine has a spare USB port, so we will use this, but of course this does not help her phone and the Vodafone signal is P155 poor in the halls.
Its good to know what they will not tolerate - so thanks for the warning.
She has a couple of MS surface machines which are used to control VMs for her studies and also for Zoom meetings home. Young'ens also use their phone a hell of a lot for whatsapp video calling etc - I have spoken to her and one machine has a spare USB port, so we will use this, but of course this does not help her phone and the Vodafone signal is P155 poor in the halls.
it very much depends, if the Uni is clever then they will likely detect a rogue AP from their APs - but as you have crap service in her dorm, I doubt it.
As per above, you would need to configure the router and set decent security on it. Call it "iPhone di Gianni" so they go looking for an Italian student hotspotting his phone
Last thing to do would be turn off DHCP so that using the LAN port does not cause the network to go into meltdown (or leave it on, DHCP with long leases and a funny IP range, it will break many things); it should then operate as an AP and she will be on the network with all of her stuff.
She can use it to make friends too
As per above, you would need to configure the router and set decent security on it. Call it "iPhone di Gianni" so they go looking for an Italian student hotspotting his phone
Last thing to do would be turn off DHCP so that using the LAN port does not cause the network to go into meltdown (or leave it on, DHCP with long leases and a funny IP range, it will break many things); it should then operate as an AP and she will be on the network with all of her stuff.
She can use it to make friends too
Ray Singh said:
Fair point....
We raised a ticket when she first arrived in the digs. As there is no outage, it is a priority 7 (out of 9).
Its time to help ourselves.
You might find the halls networks are outsourced to a 3rd party provider, most are these days. It does surprise me performance is poor, halls wifi tends to be a metric in student satisfaction surveys so is usually bob on.We raised a ticket when she first arrived in the digs. As there is no outage, it is a priority 7 (out of 9).
Its time to help ourselves.
I've had a few discussions with universities about securing networks and monitoring devices. it seems that the student networks are basically "wild west" style, where almost anything goes, they're also so large that any solutions like Network Access Control or security monitoring are horrendously expensive, this has led in every case to the budget being focussed where the Uni services are run. Won't be a universal truth but I've never been asked to price any monitoring or security on student networks.
If you do end up trying a wifi router, be a bit clever with the SSID, I had a customer many years ago whose office was right up against a retail park, he had two Wifi SSIDs, along the lines of "Halfords-Guest" and "PCWorld-Guest". He then descoped them from any audits
If you do end up trying a wifi router, be a bit clever with the SSID, I had a customer many years ago whose office was right up against a retail park, he had two Wifi SSIDs, along the lines of "Halfords-Guest" and "PCWorld-Guest". He then descoped them from any audits
I would try really hard not to connect to it at all. Unis often dont do security properly, and they are full of students who lack general societal maturity and that think 'safe space' means they can try and hack the s
t out of any IT they can (she will probably learn about this in cyber security modules in her degree... highly recommend she pays attention in these classes, lots of jobs, highly paid).
Is the mobile signal poor at the window? If not, maybe a mobile provider broadband box could be a an option?
t out of any IT they can (she will probably learn about this in cyber security modules in her degree... highly recommend she pays attention in these classes, lots of jobs, highly paid).Is the mobile signal poor at the window? If not, maybe a mobile provider broadband box could be a an option?
eeLee said:
I must hasten to add for my advice, I was banned several times from my uni computer network in the early 90s. This may affect your willingness to follow my suggestions.....
For those sins, I do a job in computer security (Cyber, if you like that word)
You still got a job even though you got caught several times?For those sins, I do a job in computer security (Cyber, if you like that word)
I still have fond memories of the Napster fest that was our University Network.
Personally I would just plug an AP in and feign ignorance if anyone comes knocking.
If she has a conventional laptop, you can usually use them as a gateway and share a wifi hotspot while it's plugged in to the ethernet rather than mess around with old routers.
paulrockliffe said:
You still got a job even though you got caught several times?
A mate used to work for an IT security firm that spent a fair bit of time tracking down hackers...and then hiring them.RizzoTheRat said:
A mate used to work for an IT security firm that spent a fair bit of time tracking down hackers...and then hiring them.
Wow, while we employ people that are capable of such things and do it ethically while they work for us we have never and will never recruit somebody that has history of actually doing it, whether through confession or during background checks. It's something we sometimes get asked about when replying to tenders. I would think it maybe happens in some of the start ups or firms that aren't fussed about being affiliated with the likes of CREST.Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff