I'd like some advice from the programmers and people who know a lot about networks among you about a problem I've been having. I live in a residence hall at my university (it's really more like an apartment, but they call it a residence hall). We have wireless routers installed in all of our rooms. For quite a while I've been having this problem where my browser will stop responding after a while and won't load anything until I disconnect and reconnect to the network. This really pisses me off because I pay an ass-load of money to live here, and I should expect that I would at least have a decent internet connection. I've talked to some of the people in the IT department about this and though they've done jack shit to solve it, they have told me what they think is the cause. They believe it's because of people using unauthorized routers in their rooms. We have wireless routers that come preinstalled in our rooms - I believe they're all connected to a central hub which is itself probably connected to a fiber optic cable or something. We're also required to register our computers or other devices with our student IDs - that way only students can use the network. Anyway, the point is that one of the rules of using the network is that you can't install your own router - you can only use the ones preinstalled. However, people don't follow this rule. I know this because I can see other routers when I look at my internet connection. Why other routers would cause problems for the preinstalled routers, I don't know. Maybe you guys could expound upon that. However, I have an idea how to solve the problem - if that is, in fact, the problem. Since they (presumably) know the MAC addresses of all the preinstalled routers, they could simply disable routers with different MAC addresses. Of course, you would need some way to differentiate routers from regular computers and other internet devices, but I should think it could be done. What do you guys think of this idea? Can you think of a better one? Do you think the explanation the IT people have given me is a valid one?
I'm no expert but if you can log in to the router's interface, maybe try changing the Wi-Fi channel, or set it to Auto. Failing that disconnect the router and use a direct Ethernet connection!
Uni internet is normally the worst because they have all kinds of monitoring shit installed as well as hundreds of people running off the same internet as well as it being the cheapest internet they can find that will be ok for so many people. Only thing you can try is running the internet off the wire (Router>Wire>Computer)
Each person with there own wireless router? The channel congestion must be horrific! Why not use ethernet?
Not each person, each room. A room usually houses 2 or 3 people. They have separate bedrooms, though. I could use an ethernet cord, but I'd prefer to reserve that for my Xbox 360. I don't really want to have to switch back and forth constantly. I suppose maybe I could buy a switch of some kind.
