Wireless Access Point in dorm room

[jrmasm]

This stuff makes me head hurt.

Any experiences or tips? There is wifi in the common areas but not it in the rooms. Access points are allowed by the school's IT department.

 

[HM]

My son and his friends did not use the wifi in their rooms once it was set up this past spring. They continued to plug their PCs into the wall port. They did use the wifi for their phones though. I wouldn't worry about your child not having wifi in their room.

 

[RitaE]

I bought my oldest son a cheap wireless router to take his first year of college. When I got it up to his room to start the set-up, there were already about 23 different unlocked wi-fi signals in the immediate area, and it was only about 10am on the first move-in day and my son had already connected his iPhone to one of them.

He brought the router home at Christmas .... said it was just taking up room on the bookshelf and he didn't need it. He had a cable there too but I'm not sure if he ever even bothered with that either.

 

[jrmasm]

I bought my oldest son a cheap wireless router to take his first year of college. When I got it up to his room to start the set-up, there were already about 23 different unlocked wi-fi signals in the immediate area, and it was only about 10am on the first move-in day and my son had already connected his iPhone to one of them.

He brought the router home at Christmas .... said it was just taking up room on the bookshelf and he didn't need it. He had a cable there too but I'm not sure if he ever even bothered with that either.

I would be concerned about security using an unlocked signal....is that crazy?

 

[Jestocost]

I would be concerned about security using an unlocked signal....is that crazy?

Not at all. I would be. My DDs school does not allow students to connect WiFi routers to its network and watches for any unauthorized signals, so we never had to worry about it. It would have been nice because I have an unused WiFi router/remote backup sitting in a box in my basement that we could have used but I understand their concerns. I'm surprised that any schools allow random WiFi routers all over the place--much less unsecured ones--actually.

The annoying thing about her room's Internet access was that there were two ethernet ports in each bedroom and two in the common area, but only the bedroom ports were live.

 

[jrmasm]

Not at all. I would be. My DDs school does not allow students to connect WiFi routers to its network and watches for any unauthorized signals, so we never had to worry about it. It would have been nice because I have an unused WiFi router/remote backup sitting in a box in my basement that we could have used but I understand their concerns. I'm surprised that any schools allow random WiFi routers all over the place--much less unsecured ones--actually.The annoying thing about her room's Internet access was that there were two ethernet ports in each bedroom and two in the common area, but only the bedroom ports were live.

They say they allow access points, not routers. But honestly, I'm not sure what the difference is.

 

[kamik86]

The issue with using an unsecured access point depends on what your sending. If you want it so your phone can download apps and update facebook not a big deal. But I would plug in your computer before you check your banking information.

Although even that last one is done all the time. From airports or coffee shops for example those are unsecure connections too. Most hotel wireless including Disney... now if you can secure it using a remote work log in (my company has these to check work email) you can still use an unsecure signal safely but I"ll admit even knowing how easy it is to get stuff I have definitely used unsecure signals for many things.

 

[wiigirl]

They say they allow access points, not routers. But honestly, I'm not sure what the difference is.

Access point allow an extension of the network with out any address translation or firewall/routing.

http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=146

 

[jrmasm]

The issue with using an unsecured access point depends on what your sending. If you want it so your phone can download apps and update facebook not a big deal. But I would plug in your computer before you check your banking information.Although even that last one is done all the time. From airports or coffee shops for example those are unsecure connections too. Most hotel wireless including Disney... now if you can secure it using a remote work log in (my company has these to check work email) you can still use an unsecure signal safely but I"ll admit even knowing how easy it is to get stuff I have definitely used unsecure signals for many things.

That's my concern. I highly doubt that my ding dong 18 year old is going to do that.

Access point allow an extension of the network with out any address translation or firewall/routing.

http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=146

That really means nothing to me.

Is a wifi signal using a WAP secure?

 

[thehowells]

Access point allow an extension of the network with out any address translation or firewall/routing.

http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=146

urg you beat me to it