Broadband at University Accommodation

[ReformedCharacter]

Thanks, I think we're entering the realms of speculation and "what might be" here. It's for my son really, he'll be moving into a city centre flat soon. I think he won't have any need for a BT line so a 4G router deal from 3 will likely fit the bill quite well.

You might care to look at Solwise who seem to specialise in that sort of thing:

http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-routers.htm

RC

[servodude]

Worth a quick check to see whether his laptop supports a SIM natively before you splash out on a modem/router
- I know two of mine do

Depending on the operating system these a can be used as wireless hot spots also (sharing the cellular connection via wifi)
- with the upside that they make it very easy to see who/what is using the network

Have fun
- sd

[didds]

As your son is studying an IT related course, it may be worthwhile for his own expansion of knowledge to investigate this?

cheers

didds

[didds]

As your son is studying an IT related course, it may be worthwhile for his own expansion of knowledge to investigate this?

cheers

didds

Apologies, I didn't say that, did I? I DID hijack the thread though. Anyhow, my son is a maths graduate from last year and is starting his first job in Manchester. At the moment he's waiting to complete on his first rung of the housing ladder. He is an avid gamer but has little interest in the hardware beyond using it! When it no longer meets his needs I try to help him on his next gaming platform upgrade. I'm subtly trying to develop his interest and knowledge as I go along, but it's hard work at the moment!

Thanks for your interest.

Fred.

sorry Fred - not you... that's my poor quoting and lack of following who is who!

The first sentence of the first post in this thread was

"My son started at university last September, he is studying an IT related course."

apologies all around for miss-referencing.

didds

[melonfool]

I occasionally stay in student accommodation in London - they advertise free wifi, but in all the times I have stayed I've barely ever even been able to get on it let alone have anything 'high speed'. I gave up in the end and used my phone on 3g or whatever it is.

It seems this might be an issue for these high density blocks of rooms. Though most (not all that I have been to) hotels seem to cope.

Mel

[ReformedCharacter]

As your son is studying an IT related course, it may be worthwhile for his own expansion of knowledge to investigate this?

cheers

didds

Yes, I'm all for the gaining of knowledge by experience but as it happens he has grown up in a fairly IT literate household, elder brother works in IT etc., and I think he's unlikely to learn much from the technical side of this particular experience.

However, I'm sure we've both discovered the shortcomings of the legal system which permits his university to advertise facilities which don't exist without appropriate sanction.

RC

[Itsallaguess]

I posted a while ago on a different thread, discussing mobile-broadband options. Does this help anyone here at all?

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=2675&p=24888#p24888

The Mi-Fi devices can accept a number of wireless connections, and are a lot more flexible/portable than a router-enable mobile solution, so I hope this might be helpful.

Note that there is a 12GB SIM card option, but I'd recommend having a few of the smaller ones initially if anyone is heading down this route, just to gauge a view on data-usage, give these cards last for either their data-limit or 30-days, whichever is gone first.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[didds]

However, I'm sure we've both discovered the shortcomings of the legal system which permits his university to advertise facilities which don't exist without appropriate sanction.

trades descriptions ? Though my view of them is that aren't interested (based on the one time I contacted them, many years ago), but it may be better now/where your son is based.


didds

[didds]

Which university out of interest?

cheers

didds

[ReformedCharacter]

Which university out of interest?

cheers

didds

Falmouth

RC

[stewamax]

Given that the router is a BT Home Hub 2, perhaps the service was 'high speed' when it was installed, but our perception of what high speed is has changed in the meantime.
And if it is a 2A (made by Thompson), they are notoriously unreliable. The landlord can probably get a replacement (Home Hub 5) from BT for nothing.

[ReformedCharacter]

Given that the router is a BT Home Hub 2, perhaps the service was 'high speed' when it was installed, but our perception of what high speed is has changed in the meantime.
And if it is a 2A (made by Thompson), they are notoriously unreliable. The landlord can probably get a replacement (Home Hub 5) from BT for nothing.

To try to avoid any discussions with the university about what 'high speed' actually means (no agreed definition I assume) I provided my son with a utility which measured 'pings' (set to ping google.co.uk). This showed that the connection was frequently failing completely for extended periods quite a few times per hour and that when the connection actually worked it was very slow. He also used a utility on his 'phone to measure download speed and - when it worked - indicated < 2Mbps. The fact that the connection frequently failed was sufficient for anyone to agree that the service whether 'high speed' or not was unacceptable.

I did actually contact the landlord, which is a company based in Bristol, and not only did they not wish to speak to me about it they made it clear that they felt under no obligation to do anything about it. Their contract is with the university and not with my son, anyway.

RC

[didds]

Their contract is with the university and not with my son, anyway.

RC

and that is it in a nutshell.

didds