Students Seek Widespread Internet Access 81
Russ Jones writes "As a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we have been struggling with finding ways to provide internet access to our growing off-campus students - currently, students have few to no options other than traditional, expensive, commercial providers. After feeling out large contracts through the University with major providers, it has become clear that they do not want to play ball with a public institution. Regardless, as a student I am still very interested in finding a solution to at least some of the woes. Students at Carolina are required to purchase laptops, many of which are wireless enabled. The University has put a lot of funding into wireless initiatives (but has only looked into using short-distance access points). Are there any long distance alternatives, that could possibly stretch a mile or more in radius? Any ideas on possible alternatives?"
Re:Do what I did when I was in college (Score:2)
Internet is important as it helps with the research, not only that but the University becomes a leader in the community for getting Internet access.
A university isn't a business? (Score:1)
Ever wondered why they institute so many bullshit requirements to keep you there longer? $$$, my friend, that's what it's all about.
Re:A university isn't a business? (Score:1)
Re:A university isn't a business? (Score:1)
the longer you stay at the school, the more taxpayer $$ is spent on you
Yeah, but they'll make it up on volume.
Re:A university isn't a business? (Score:1)
Re:Do what I did when I was in college (Score:1)
Re:Do what I did when I was in college (Score:1)
for broadband, students should get their butts to campus grounds to use the schools ethernet jacks or WiFi connections.
What I find most puzzing is this... (Score:1, Troll)
Click Here [google.fr]. Choose the first link and read. I go to a shitty state school. It took you longer to write that bullshit Ask Slashdot than it would have to use a little common sense. Are you used to having things just handed to you?
Re:What I find most puzzing is this... (Score:1)
Re:What I find most puzzing is this... (Score:1)
Re:What I find most puzzing is this... (Score:1)
Re: hahahahahaha (Score:2)
Students at Tufts University... (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact, I know a group of upcoming juniors who decided to not live off campus because of the internet connection - it's god aweful and hideously expensive.
I'm not saying that the school should provide internet access to everyone, but really, some of the cases are ridiculous. Houses that have cabling running underneath and above them should be wired - if the house isn't rented to a Tufts student, charge a small fee for the service that you could work out with the provider of our lines, and if it is, provide free access.
The 'net is Huge at schools now. Everyone's on it, even if computer literacy is still very below "techie". I think the schools really ought to do more to bring the net to their surrounding communities, especially in the case of off campus living.
Re:Students at Tufts University... (Score:1)
That's a major reason why there's a housing crunch at UMass. If I were a landlord renting a house to college students, I would get a DSL connection and set up a LAN, splitting the cost of the connection.
Students at Ohio University... (Score:1)
Wavelan + Yagi antennas (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't see why recent access points couldn't do it.
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2)
A better solution is to actually talk to other Universities on how they solved the problem.
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1)
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2)
if you want the University to take care of all the details of your life, live in the dorms. Move off campus if you want to pretend to be a responsible adult.
Responsible adults pay for their own internet access.
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2)
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1)
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1, Troll)
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1)
Seeing as how the US is such a "leader" in the Internet, isn't it time for the prices to go down?
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1)
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2)
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1)
I really do sympathize with my American counterparts. The internet is a wonderful information source and more users do need it. Unfortunately, many users abuse it and use it for uses other than what the University intended. While tuitions go up only the high end schools can afford the new amenities and thus it creates and oligarchy over educational status.
This is not to say that education can't be completed without the Internet. It's just an extra learning tool and some places might turn out students more capable of learning from different resources (and better educated) than those that don't.
At the University of Waterloo I'm working on a project that will allow students to supliment their learning through an online resource system. So far the results have been fantastic and it's based on students learning most of the material ahead of time and then learning what they don't know in class. It's given them more free time. In our case the Internet is a huge learning tool.
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2)
So far the results have been fantastic and it's based on students learning most of the material ahead of time and then learning what they don't know in class.
[/blockquote]
Is this fundamentally different than expecting them to read their textbooks before class? Most people don't bother...
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2)
Now you may be saying but aren't they just reading online? The answer is yes and no. Yes in that there are text book references but only the important parts have been extracted (not the filler). Secondly, the professors lectures have been videotaped and are available online (without all the umms and errrs).
This helps those who learn by seeing and/or reading. Also, the system also tests and gives assignments that must be done prior to class. This way the professor can find out what the class is struggling to understand and better explain that during class.
The concept of the system is new and it wasn't popular last term (September to December, here in Canada our school terms are 4 months and you typically take two a year although I've been doing continous school since 1999), but now that the online system is in place it's caught on like wildfire. The results are impressive as well, the tests are no longer easy as all the students know more, those that like to skip class still learn everything.
So basically, the text book is now the supplement to the course. In no way is the course being moved online as the student professor relationship is still important. It's just that the class is now a QA time rather than just take notes notes and more notes.
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1)
(By the way, U. Waterloo is a great place; they will probably do a good job of maintaining an appropriate prespective.)
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1)
Re:350 a year is quite a bit. (Score:2)
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2, Funny)
Maybe he wants to have a *good time* at uni
"Stop making so much noise screwing, I'm concentrating on debugging the linux kernel up here!"
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2)
...
"Stop making so much noise screwing, I'm concentrating on debugging the linux kernel up here!"
Um, he said move in with a couple of GEEKS. They probably wouldn't get laid that often since they too are busy debugging the kernel.
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1)
Uh, i meant he'd be screwing, they'd be coding, let's call the whole thing off...
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:1, Troll)
okay then. .
If you can pay $7350, then you can pay $7700.
If you can pay $7700, then you can pay $8050.
...
If you can pay $287350, then you can pay $287700
It doesn't work that way. You have a finite ammount of money. When its gone its gone.
Re:would you like some cheese? (Score:2)
Students can get broadband in the UNC area... (Score:2, Insightful)
Another poster insightfully gave you a Google link that you should use for your wireless dream. I suggest that since your school is dictating that students have laptops and certain kinds of laptops (and I assume the school doesn't pay for the laptops) why not dictate that students also have internet access and pay for it themselves? Really, we are talking about $14.95 for dial-up or $50 per month for broadband compared to a $1400 laptop they already have to buy.
Re:Students can get broadband in the UNC area... (Score:2)
Re:Students can get broadband in the UNC area... (Score:2)
Reality should intervene at some point here and force people to realize that if kids today go to college without a laptop and don't get internet access on their own... They have much bigger problems than being able to download pdf's! They are having problems just getting to go to college to begin with!
Don't give me sob stories about kids going to a college that is practically Ivy Leauge.
what my school does (Score:3, Informative)
I'm moving off campus for the next school year, and if I don't have funding for a cable modem or dsl, using the ppp (which i imagine only runs at 28.8 or so) will be fine. Any downloads I need to do can be done while on campus.
I'm going to do my best to find a home on campus for my 'desktop' with the debian mirror on it though, cause updating the mirror on a modem would be sad
I don't know how many students UNC has that would be using dialin lines, but they could start w/ a couple lines and grow as need be... could probably find some used modem racks fairly cheap, especially if 56k isn't important
Re:what my school does (Score:2)
Re:what my school does (Score:1)
Re:what my school does (Score:2)
possible solution (Score:3, Interesting)
Another solution is dialup...but that limits you in speed. If you school is willing to jump through loop holes (regulations is all), you can setup your own DSL: info here [pbs.org]. The cost to setup can initially be covered by the school and you can rent the modems to the students. A small fee to use the line can also be included in the rental charge.
Here at the University of Waterloo (www.uwaterloo.ca) the Residences have account quotas so that people don't download movies 24/7. Investigation into how you could do that would also be worthwhile, or just keeping track of how much a specific computer downloads (just to give people warnings).
Re:possible solution (Score:2)
They have stopped pushing the phaseout back and it will die a horrible death on May 31. It cost too much, was too much of a drain on the technical support on campus and did not get the technical support they wanted on a timely basis from Verizon. AFAIK, this used a lot of verizon equipment and was a complete hassle. I think that rolling your own DSL would be even worse, because you're depending on a service that the phone company would fight tooth and nail to not provide and is basically sucking money from a service they could profit from.
Re:possible solution (Score:2)
Re:possible solution (Score:2)
Re:possible solution (Score:2)
You can do it together (Score:2, Informative)
NCREN or UNC-CH? (Score:4, Informative)
A dry copper loop is what? 30 bucks a month... and two dsl pipes are maybe 50-60 bucks on ebay... it would be easy to put up a 2.1 or a 1.5 mbit connection.
And don't say there are not enough ip addresses. UNC-G has a class B.... I'm willing to bet CH has a class b also.
Re:NCREN or UNC-CH? (Score:1)
At Appalachian State, where there is an oligopoly of apartment management, a company called appstate.net has set up contracts with the apartment managers in town to put in 1.5 Mbit ADSL lines to the apartment buildings (1 per building). They then split it off with high-gain 802.11b WAPs. I think it works pretty well, and it is cheap, but they set a 30 GB limit per month. On the other hand, cablemodem access is only 19.95/mo from Charter cable. As long as UNC has a budget crisis, they are not going to fork out the dough for off-campus access.
Re:NCREN or UNC-CH? (Score:2)
I'm still in k'ville... working in gso right now... btw, i war drove kville... interresting results... drop me a line at my office. BTW, if you need a job when you finally get out of college, I can hook ya up.
I am aware of NCREN's policys regarding connections... I personally think NCREN and ITS need to be gotten rid of and redone. One of my customers is a Community College near gso, and they have a hell of a time getting changes made to their checkpoint that is managed by ITS. The only info you can get out of ITS is how some things are natted, and how some of the port forwarding is done, but one could get more info with something like iptables -L on a linux firewall then what they provide to the Community College. Rumor has it that NCREN gave a pipe to Microsoft's Support/Sales group in charlotte... It's rumored to be a oc3....
-
Justin
at
wss.net
Yeah, if you can get the telco to do it... (Score:2)
Re:Yeah, if you can get the telco to do it... (Score:2)
Become a 3G testbed for Sprint PCS? (Score:1)
Other than 3G, I wouldn't do "long distance" wireless, because of scalability issues.
WiFi (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:WiFi (Score:1)
Investment GOOOOOD. Throwing money at AT&T or whomever BAAAAAAD.
Re:WiFi (Score:1)
According to the FCC, nearly all modifications to 802.11b base stations is illegal. To get it to transmit date far enough (spec is 300 feet) requires quite a bit of power, and that power starts to transmit serious amounts of interference. 802.11b is legal only because the spec says that it has to accept all interference, and provide none. If you were to set up a network using multiple base stations that have been modified, and cause noticable interference, the FCC will come to investigate.
Then the school is screwed, and so are the students.
Re:WiFi (Score:1)
Financial Aid Perhaps? (Score:2)
Off campus apartments... SHARE INTERNET (Score:1)
While extending 802.11b with antennas over a mile should not be difficult, you are going to run into difficulties with all the trees and hills in Chapel Hill. Get your roommates/neighbors together, bite the bullet and order DSL/cable (you can even get it in Carrboro). If you can round up a few collaborators you are looking at less than $10 per month apiece. It's only costing you about a beer a week (uptown anyhow) at that point, so get over it.
Look at Virginia Tech for a model approach (Score:1)
24hr computer labs (Score:1, Interesting)