Poor WiFi at college

[Jeri Lynn]

Hi Everyone,
My daughter is attending CA State at San Bernadino for a semester of school. She has told me that she has very poor wifi reception in her room on laptop, ipad and phone.

Is there anything I can buy to improve that reception?

Thanks!!

[VWL Mom]

DS uses an Airport Express (Apple) in his room. If she has an ethernet outlet in her room, she would plug a cable into that and then to the AE and would have her own WiFi.

This is what we used at BLT before they offered WiFi, works great!

[DizneyRox]

DS uses an Airport Express (Apple) in his room. If she has an ethernet outlet in her room, she would plug a cable into that and then to the AE and would have her own WiFi.

This is what we used at BLT before they offered WiFi, works great!
This coud work. You can only make changes to your own hardware. It's probably the transmission that bad/spotty, not the receiving device.

On the laptop, it may be possible to get a better WiFi card (USB based) with a bigger/better antenna that might work, but that's heading down the wrong path.

That WiFi device needs to be secured, I would guess the Ethernet port (if there is one) is traceable to her room, sharing that out with a router might make her liable for any other activity on that line.

[BriarRose0708]

WiFi in Residence Halls is spotty for a couple reasons. It could be that the college ITS doesn't use powerful enough routers to support the number of students using WiFi, which results in slow or weak connections. Most halls were built in the days before WiFi and the signals don't travel well through concrete walls, if that's the construction of the building. There are also challenges with placing wireless routers in spots where the signals will reach all the way down a long hallway. She may find that she gets better reception in a lounge or common area, where they tend to put the routers. If her room is far from where the router is placed then the signal would be weaker. Have her check with ITS or her Hall Director to ask if it's OK to have a personal router. Depending on how their system is set up with firewalls, a personal router may not work. I always found a long ethernet cord plugged from the wall to the computer was better and much faster than wireless. A nice long cord would allow her to be connected to the internet no matter where she is in her room.

[BrerGnat]

I would recommend that she find another place on campus where the wifi is better in order to do some work. Or, plug into a hard line, if there is a connection available.

[Wayne]

I wouldn't recommend a wireless router (airport express or other) in the room without verifying that you wouldn't be in violation of the terms of usage set down by the college IT Department. You don't want to take a chance on being denied access to the network for violating the policy. Perhaps using an ethernet cable will be a better solution for the time being, but file a service report with IT. It might get some results.

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

If there is an ethernet port - have her get a long enough ethernet cord to hardwire her internet connection to her laptop. Most colleges do not allow independent routers in the door rooms for the wifi if it is provided. (Safety of the server.)

If there is not a ethernet port in her room - she needs to contact IT and let them know she is having issues and ask what she can do to resolve them.

[sportsguy2315]

We have the same problem at my college, albeit its spotty: I'm in a "modern dorm" (aka opened in 2002) and the WiFi works pretty well at my place. Conversely, DGF is in a 100 year old dorm. It can be very frustrating to do homework or other stuff (read: streaming music) there. The student body pressured IT into explaining why the WiFi was spotty a couple years ago, and IT's explanation was that a lightining strike had cut off the higher speed connection :confused: and they didn't have the money to fix it. As for the routers, they do exist in DGF's dorm named a variety of things about the internet speed (Namely ones I can't post on INTERCOT), but last night I spotted a clever one: FBI Intelligence. I wonder how many people thought that the FBI was really spying on them :secret:.