Internet access on my school's campus

[Dew]

My journalism teacher assigned me to write an article dealing with Internet access on campus. I went around and found a few access points set up by the school, and guess what, they do not work for shit. It isn't just me either.

On this campus we have two dorms. One of the dorms gets wireless internet access while the other does not get Internet at all despite the Ethernet jacks clearly visible in our rooms. If we want Internet we have to go through Time Warner cable just like a normal customer would. Hardly seems ethical doesn't it?

I also found out the wireless in the other dorm sucks monkey fuck and many people over there are also getting Time Warner which still sucks monkey fuck, but not quite as much.

You know what else is really odd? The school doesn't like to mail things home anymore so they want us to check our Bill and whatnot on their online studentOne system. Great idea, but how the fuck are we supposed to do that when we don't have Internet access in our dorm rooms?

They'd say to use the computer labs. Well ok, too bad they suck. I mean it's just ridiculous. First thing you turn them on you get a Windows Defender error message. Then when you go to start office 2007 it asks you to register with your name and initials EVERY TIME. Minor inconveniences I know, but that's pretty unprofessional looking if you ask me. I also noticed some machines don't even have the Windows Updates done due to the absence of IE7.

I know I'm just rambling here but something isn't right with all of this. None of it makes any sense ethically. I know I need to go to a different school lol. But I was wondering, being as computer savy as most of you are, if there is some sort of issue here worth investigating, or if it truly is just bunch of bullshit they can get away with.

[|darc|]

Where the hell do you go?

[Dew]

Where the hell do you go?

Eastern Maine Community College. I wasn't too sure that was relevant but if so.

[Jaded JAaron77]

my school recently replaced their T3 line with some deal from the cable company. The result? My max connection speed has jumped from 700kbit to over 20mbit. ...and this is in all but one or two of the dorms (which have wireless (I have no experience with those though)

our lab computers are all slow as hell

...but really, you're stuck. I mean, it's not like they're breaking laws by not giving you an über connection in the dorm. ...sounds like pretty typical college screw-you-over-wherever-possible crap...


...to be honest, I'm really surprised that my school actually replaced their connection with something that ended up faster.

[MetalGearRay]

Where the hell do you go?

Eastern Maine Community College. I wasn't too sure that was relevant but if so.

There's a community college with dorms? Uhh... CC's are pretty much for living at home until you are able to transfer to a bigger university.

Either way, I'm not surprised that the conditions there are garbage,

[butters]

I also noticed some machines don't even have the Windows Updates done due to the absence of IE7.

Many IT system admins block the installation of IE7 because it tends to break applications that are designed specifically for IE6 ActiveX.

[APE]

I also noticed some machines don't even have the Windows Updates done due to the absence of IE7.

Many IT system admins block the installation of IE7 because it tends to break applications that are designed specifically for IE6 ActiveX.

It's all about WinDiz update and firefox anyway.

[butters]

I also noticed some machines don't even have the Windows Updates done due to the absence of IE7.

Many IT system admins block the installation of IE7 because it tends to break applications that are designed specifically for IE6 ActiveX.

It's all about WinDiz update and firefox anyway.

Okay and the point of that was? Firefox can't run IE6 ActiveX applications.

[MulletMan13]

That sucks a nut.

I remember I had several issues with our dorms' wired network... you had to register your MAC address to your username, and only got one to use. I cloned a few MAC addresses with my 360, Xbox and laptop, then added a wireless router (they didn't allow DHCP) in access point mode... worked out quite well.

The bitches kicked me off the internet for violating their terms of use, but I always found a way around it. The worst was when they banned my registered MAC address because I "had a virus". After they ran a virus scanner 16 times.... on my Mac.... they were convinced I didn't have one and let me be.

My sophomore year I got involved in dorm politics, and pushed forth a few new rules allowing people to register 2 (and 3 with approval) devices on the network... ahh, good times =)