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Can an institution ban 3rd party wifi networks?
voidman2000
Registered User new member
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There's a rumor going around that the university I'm at is thinking about banning private, encrypted wireless networks in the dorms. They already have a policy about not connecting wifi routers to ResNet (which I can understand; unsecured student access points could be a network security issue), but this new policy would affect people using Clearwire.
The official reason is that student wifi networks can interfere with the campus wifi network mesh. So do microwave ovens, but that's another story.
Question: under FCC regulations, is this OK?
Interestingly, I haven't found anything that seems useful. There was a similar thing at University of Texas, but UT:D didn't own the dorms there.
The official reason is that student wifi networks can interfere with the campus wifi network mesh. So do microwave ovens, but that's another story.
Question: under FCC regulations, is this OK?
Interestingly, I haven't found anything that seems useful. There was a similar thing at University of Texas, but UT:D didn't own the dorms there.
voidman2000 on
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But also theoretically if you don't broadcast the SSID they're unlikely to notice it.
Unless they're actively looking for wifi networks, it's trivially easy to find wireless networks that don't broadcast their SSID's.
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You can buy wifi network sniffers for about five bucks. If they detect one, they just raid all the dorms in the vicinity and confiscate any unauthorised wireless routers they find.
And yeah, as far as I can figure, if it's on campus, in university owned dorms, it's banable, considering it's their dorms and they make the rules.
But that doesn't mean your student body couldn't or shouldn't necessarily oppose the decision if it is real. Protesting about little things like it's a Big Deal is part of the University experience.
I know I've said this before, but I've left a college because of their draconian internet policies and equally draconian infrastructure.
If I can't pull more than 3 kb down, with motherfucking 18 OC3 lines, something the fuck is wrong considering most students didn't live in the dorms, but on off-campus housing.
That's what I'm talking about.
They can't prove it unless they see the router in the room, right?
And how are they getting people's rooms?
Are dorms different from regular places of tenancy where you can't enter a tenant's room without notice and a reason?
If they care at all, raiding rooms seems much more likely; disassemble and hide the router in something innocuous.
Again, campus dorms, campus rules. I know a guy who had his dorm subject to regular, suprise inspections. IT's their way or the highway, and there's really shit all you can do.
If you're that pissed about it, move off campus, don't riskk getting yourself in shit over wifi.
As illegal (in terms of breaking your rental agreement) as this is, it's probably the best route.
Get a HDD enclosure, take apart your router, and get it to fit. If you're lucky your router should fit fine. Tape the antennae to the inside of the box. Yay, hidden router that looks like a hard drive. For good measure get some sort of light that you can plug in so it's "on".
But you should probably just either man up and deal with it or move off campus and not deal with that bullshit. Get your own apartment with a roomate, it'll be shitloads cheaper and you won't have to be on their "meal plans" which are "let's rape you for lots of more money and give you some shitty ass food."
Unless you actually know what you're doing, setting up your own wifi network in the middle of someone elses wifi network can mess things up for the other students trying to use the campus network. If you don't like the campus policies, move off campus, don't screw things up for people who have no choice but live on campus.
And no, saying it's ok because a microwave can mess up wifi as well isn't a legit argument. Almost all modern wifi equipment, especially non-consumer class equipment like what your campus is probably using, can account for (non-ancient) microwaves and suffer little to no impact.
Don't try to circumvent the policy by hiding your router in a different enclosure. They will find it and they will make you take it off the network. It's not worth your time or energy to even try.
Move off campus if you don't like it.