WI-FI Question

[Sean Troy]

My daughter is at college and wants WI-FI in her apt. There are either net jacks and they work fine for plugging in her laptop but she would like to be able to run her TV and Apple TV plus WI-FI for her phone.

Is it as simple as plugging in a WI-FI router to the wall jack and set it up from there? Thanks for any help, Sean

[Lee Schierer]

I would check with the college before broadcasting their network via WiFi. They may have some concerns or may even help.

[Sean Troy]

I would check with the college before broadcasting their network via WiFi. They may have some concerns or may even help.

They can have their own WI-FI routers. She's been using her room mates but she is going home for the summer and my daughter is staying for the summer for work.

[Dan Hulbert]

The Wi-Fi router should be just a plug and play with an Ethernet connection. When I've changed my router at home, it takes the provider a while to recognize the new device, so you may have to wait a bit for it to fully connect.

[Sean Troy]

The Wi-Fi router should be just a plug and play with an Ethernet connection. When I've changed my router at home, it takes the provider a while to recognize the new device, so you may have to wait a bit for it to fully connect.

Am I correct that I would plug the wi-fi router into the wall, connect laptop to router and then go through setup?

[Bert Kemp]

I don't even think you have to plug the laptop in. Its wi fi enabled , should pick up the wi fi and connedct or set up anyway

[Sean Troy]

I don't even think you have to plug the laptop in. Its wi fi enabled , should pick up the wi fi and connedct or set up anyway

I thought it had to be connected to the laptop or pc to go through security setup?

[Jim Becker]

If the current provider permits/provides multiple IP addresses on the Ethernet connection, then installing a WiFi Access Point (not a "router...) should be no issue and multiple devices will be able to. If they only provide a single IP address, but permit adding a router/access point, then the apartment will have it's own private network that uses the single provider IP address as a "WAN" address.

The first step is to ascertain if having multiple devices is permitted and then what's the best method. (Most "routers" that have WiFi can be setup to just be an access point without the "routing" function if an existing device is going to be used.

[Sean Troy]

Thanks all for the help. I'll double check with her room mate to see what protocol she went through to set up the wi-fi so i know whether to get a router or access point. Thanks, Sean

[Mike Henderson]

If you install one of those consumer "routers" (which are technically not a router) you won't have any problems. Those "routers" include Network Address Translation (NAT) so the network the "router" is connected to only sees one IP address. Behind the box the local network uses non-routable addresses (like 192.168.xxx.xxx). Those addresses are translated to the one IP address and a port number. So all activity behind the "router" goes out on the one IP address that the rest of the network sees.

Mike

[And those consumer "routers" are very easy to set up. The modern ones usually have a script that takes you through the setup process.]

[Jim Becker]

Weeelll....I would kinda disagree that the consumer products called routers are not routers given they perform layer 3 routing between two subnets. While the internal network is certainly NAT-ed and uses private address space, it's still a separate subnet from the WAN side.

[Matt Marsh]

Isn't this a college owned housing/dormitory apartment? I find it odd that the college doesn't already provide Wi-Fi. At the university where I work, Wi-Fi has been in place for years. Private routers are strictly forbidden here. The IT department regularly walks the dormitories and apartments, easily detecting the signals, and very quickly shuts down any private routers found.

[Sean Troy]

Isn't this a college owned housing/dormitory apartment? I find it odd that the college doesn't already provide Wi-Fi. At the university where I work, Wi-Fi has been in place for years. Private routers are strictly forbidden here. The IT department regularly walks the dormitories and apartments, easily detecting the signals, and very quickly shuts down any private routers found.

On college property but not run by them. They just provide hard wired service internet through wall jacks.

[Brian Elfert]

Isn't this a college owned housing/dormitory apartment? I find it odd that the college doesn't already provide Wi-Fi. At the university where I work, Wi-Fi has been in place for years. Private routers are strictly forbidden here. The IT department regularly walks the dormitories and apartments, easily detecting the signals, and very quickly shuts down any private routers found.

How do they sort out permitted versus non-permitted WIFI signals? Most smartphones can do WIFI hotspots now and there are even WIFI hotspots in cars now. My employer's buildings are in urban environments so there are dozens and dozens of WIFI SSIDs visible. It can make it hard to know if someone plugged a rogue access point into the corporate network.

It seems strange in this day and age to offer hardwired Internet, but not WIFI. It isn't that expensive anymore to do a decent WIFI network with equipment better than consumer grade.

[Sean Troy]

Nothing to sort out. They actually do have wi-fi but it is so spotty and weak everyone just has there own if they want it.