I just moved into a student dorm for a semester abroad, and beforehand I emailed them asking whether they had ethernet ports to plug my router into (I use it to connect all my devices, and for WiVRn VR streaming). They confirmed that I could, but now that I’m here the wifi login portal is asking me to accept these terms from the ISP, which forbid plugging in a router. There’s another clause that forbids “Disruptive Devices” entirely, defined as:
“Disruptive Device” means any device that prevents or interferes with our provision of the 4Wireless to other customers (such as a wireless access point such as wireless routers) or any other device used by you in breach of the Acceptable Use Policy;
So what are my options? I don’t think I can use this service without accepting the terms, but also I was told by the student dorm support that I could bring a router, which contradicts this.
EDIT: some additional context:
- dorm provider is a company separate from my uni (they have an agreement but that’s it)
- ISP (ask4) is totally separate from dorm provider, and have installed a mesh network that requires an account. On account creation, there are many upsells including one for connecting more than one device. The “free” plan only allows me to sign in on a single device, and I can upgrade to two devices for 15 pounds.
- ethernet requires login too
- VR streaming requires a high performance wifi 6 network, which is why I bought this router (Archer C6 from tp-link)
I would set up your router, turn off ssid broadcast and forget about it. It’s doubtful they have the equipment to find an access point that doesn’t actively announce itself to the world .
Edit: it means you will have to manually add your wifi network to your devices by typing in the ssid on them but other than that there shouldn’t be any issues
They will find it. Hidden is a software switch and your device just doesn’t show it. It’s still being advertised, however.
Maybe it depends on the access point. When I turn it off on my router there are no beacons sent. Unless you specifically probe the ssid it doesn’t announce itself. BUT granted when you make a connection the ssid does show up during the handshake. If you were watching at the exact moment of connection then it would be detectable. I suppose they could use a mass deauther device and cause new connections and detect while that is happening but they they would need to triangulate the location of said ap… Again a lot of extra equipment.
If they go looking. It’s unlikely they went out of their way to purchase and configure specialized devices in the building to catch it proactively.
I work IT at a university. They do go looking for this sort of thing. Every time students move in and plug in their equipment from home, entire network segments collapse. There is a game of whack a mole each time the term starts.
If somebody goes and causes an outage, I would expect nothing less than a tech walking around and trying to triangulate the offending router.
But in OP’s case, it’s an external ISP that provides internet services to the dorm. As long as nobody gives them a reason to start looking, I don’t expect a for-profit ISP to be sending out a contractor proactively beyond the first week of move-ins. That costs them money, and likely a lot more money than they would recover by catching the handful of people trying to dogde the per-device upcharge.
You may be right. The sales side lines up a contract, installer comes out, and they move on.