<p>is this true???</p>
<p>Yes. I don’t know of any public dorms that have Wi-Fi. There is however very fast ethernet and although against the rules, some set up their own routers. I think Wi-Fi isn’t allowed due to legal downloading rules, but I could be wrong. Ethernet allows the university to limit downloading and hence deter movie downloads, etc. although I think there are ways around this.</p>
<p>They could do the same thing if they tracked by MAC Address instead of by where you’re plugged in. But then, I guess you could spoof MAC Addresses. But still.</p>
<p>isnt ethernet faster than wi fi?</p>
<p>Ethernet IS faster than Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is prohibited in dorm rooms, and there is not university wireless in them, so you have to use ethernet, which is easy anyway.</p>
<p>The reason is definitely bandwidth related. The University has a limit of something like 2 GB per 24 hrs (which is more than double what it was when I lived in the dorms). They track the rates by MAC address, so your limit follows you from room to room. However, in order to help destroy the threat of spoofing, they also limit each room to a maximum of 5 MAC addresses (which was the limit for a 3 person room, it might be less for a 2 person). The 5 takes into account that some people have desktops and laptops. If they catch you with more than 5, you get in trouble. They shut off your internet until they talk to you about it.</p>
<p>Basically, with Wi-Fi it allows people to potentially put their MAC address on other rooms and use their bandwidth, which can screw one or both parties, so it is not allowed. Most of the lounges have Wi-Fi though.</p>
<p>Personally, when I was in the dorms with a 750 MB limit, I spoofed the hell out of my MAC address. I just knew my roommate had 1 computer, the other roommate left after 1st semester, so I had 4 random addresses written down that I cycled, so I would use up my bandwidth on one, switch addresses, and use up my bandwidth on the next, and so on. I basically had 4x the bandwidth per day that I should have. I don’t feel bad about this at all, because 750 MB was ridiculous, and I often had files for school (like install files for Pro/E) that required much more downloading than this, so I felt my spoofing was justified.</p>