What to Bring to Texas--Honors quad or others

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
1

My son will be living (most likely) in one of the honors quad dorms this fall. Below is the link to UT’s What to Bring (and not to bring).

Any advice on something not on this list that was helpful (or not helpful)? Also it says to bring a Cat 5 cable for internet–are dorm room connections wired and not wireless?

2

Was this the link?

http://www.utexas.edu/student/housing/handbook/index.php?site=1&scode=0&id=96

Also- there is wifi but, it never hurts to be prepared to hardwire a computer if necessary. A little more info:
http://www.utexas.edu/its/help/network/1623

3

Thanks, yes that was the link. Cheers, @bookmom7.

4

If you have not bought your ethernet cable yet, go for the cat5e or cat 6. We had no idea what the differences were when we went to purchase ours and the salesperson was very helpful. 5e is a newer version of 5 and less interference and much faster. 6 is even better.
Cat5e: Faster with Less Interference and a 14’ cord is $20.

Category 5 enhanced cabling, also known as Cat5e, is an improvement on Cat5 cabling. It was made to support 1000 Mbps “gigabit” speeds, so in theory, it’s faster than Cat5. It it also cuts down on crosstalk, the interference you can sometimes get between wires inside the cable. Both of these improvements mean you’re more likely to get fast, reliable speed out of Cat5e cabling compared to Cat5.

Cat6: Even Faster

Category 6 cabling is the next step up from Cat5e and includes a few more improvements. It has even stricter specifications when it comes to interference, and its capable of 10-Gigabit speeds in some cases. If you’re buying a new cable, you might as well grab a cat6 since it is an improvement over its predecessor

5

Depending on the major/interests of the student also might be a reason to get an Ethernet cable. Wired connections will ALWAYS be faster, especially now that I’m pretty sure every tier comes equipped with gigabit Internet (used to be just tier 3 & 4). So high levels of downloads/gaming might necessitate speeds 800 mbps

6

@Thelma2 and @SlimShadyLady, good inout on the cables. Would not have thought it would be needed but makes sense. Cheers.