wifi from uni connection

[adam1701]

Next year ill be starting at uni, presuming that the uni doesnt have wifi around where my dorm is. Will it be possible for me to plug a wireless router in and create my own wifi network ? Instead of plugging my laptop directly into the ethernet I can plug the router into the ethernet and my laptop into the router ?

I understand that they will require a mac adress... do I just give them the router one rather than my laptop ?

[Lowe]

You'll probably find this is against the Uni's T&C of internet use. You're best off talking to the IT dept, but realistically expect a firm no. If you take it upon yourself to set a router up, they'll find it as well. Our IT dept walk around campus with sniffing devices every now and then looking for just this sort of thing!

[adam1701]

Well I was thinking of hiding the ssid so that staff can't find it. It's just so that I can use my laptop and ipod touch. But in effect a router is the same as having a pc plugged in?

[jam163]

well if your room is anything like mine was then you wont need wireless to sit anywhere in it it lol

[Twigman]

Hiding SSID doens't make it invisble from people who are looking

[Jay]

I would not do this.

The Network / IT people have enough to worry about.

[mosfet]

I ran a Linksys BER41 (wired router) in my room in Uni with a cisco wireless access point hanging off it. Just make sure you've got all the 'intelligent' features of your router turned off, so NAT and other routing stuff. Don't use a wan port, plug the Ethernet connection in your room into a standard LAN port (ie. I used it as a basic switch).

As for the access point, don't broadcast SSID and always use WPA2 with a strong key (and make sure this is different to the admin log on). Uni halls tend to have a higher concentration of electronic engineers and compsci students than your average residential road, so make sure it's secure

I doubt it's much different for combined wireless router boxes.

IT services obviously aren't happy with people doing this, but during an (off-duty) chat to one of their guys it seemed they don't mind what you do as long as it doesn't cause problems for them or other residents. Bare this in mind when setting up.

[Steve B]

I used it as a basic switch

This is an important point. The DHCP server on the router can conflict with the Uni DHCP servers and then you'll get IT round with their hammers.