<p>Is there wireless internet in the dorms?</p>
<p>Believe when we asked this on our tour they said they're still working on wireless in dorm rooms but have wireless in common areas. Anyone know for sure?</p>
<p>IMHO best to hardwire when you're in your dorm room anyway: faster, more reliable.</p>
<p>No, there is no wireless in dorm rooms, and it is also not allowed at all. Several times throughout the year, they will scan to see if there are wireless routers around, and if they find any, they will suspend student's usage to the internet.</p>
<p>Why is WashU so draconian about wireless? I heard that they think it compromises the security of their network, but WiFi is getting bigger everyday. Is it because they haven't gotten around to putting routers in the dorms and don't want people to independently run wireless networks?</p>
<p>Just encrypt your wireless network and they can't do anything (since they can't find out who you are). Tons of people run encrypted networks and don't get in trouble. The issue really comes down to network security - If you're running an unencrypted network (or letting friends on your encrypted one) and someone on your router has a virus, ResTech will shut off your connection and clean the computer before giving you access back (in order to stop the spread). If it's not your computer, your network access was just shut off for no reason, and you have to figure out who has the virus. Having worked at ResTech in the past, I've seen this happen before and cause a lot of problems. I know they are looking at solutions for wireless on the south 40, but it's a great feat to accomplish due to the sheer volume of people who would be connecting to the access points, causing the network to slow down. It does make more sense to get your own router and work off of your own connection when in your room/floor.</p>
<p>Also if they had wireless all around the dorms they would lose the 200$ that they charge each person to activate their connection in the dorm room. I guess they could have a username set-up to access the wireless network, but as previously posted the connection might slow down with so many people using it, and using someone elses username would be easy. Setting up a large, safe wireless network isn't as easy as one would think; and I'm sure WashU is working on it.</p>
<p>okay, they don't have wireless, but... should I buy a Cat-5 cable? Do they allow people to surf the net at all? Or... is it a charged thing?</p>
<p>It costs $232.50/year for ethernet in the dorms. Most other colleges just hide that fee in the housing cost, and for some reason, ResLife doesn't want to do that (Though ResTech does). Buy a Cat-5 cable. Anyway, wired internet is up to 10x faster than wireless, and you can definitely notice a difference when many people are logged onto wireless with you (or when you're using OurTunes to download songs from other students).</p>
<p>Hm, so if I buy a cat-5, I'll still have to pay the annual fee, huh? daang. :( It's unavoidable though. I'm wired all the time because I'm downloading so much. Tsk.</p>