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)
This isn’t rare and not altogether a bad idea.
My university had a problem of students bringing their own WiFi routers before the dorms had WiFi. Students would set them up incorrectly and cause a series of problems with colliding DHCP servers and interference and it would cause outages for nearby wired students.
A lot of IT departments locked the network down for these reasons.
That's an IT problem, not a user problem. The downstream ports should have been isolated at both the link and packet layers. Configuring a router to share an unrestricted LAN between a dorm full of untrusted users is a disaster waiting to happen.
A lot of Unis have IT on a shoestring budget.Especially the CompSci dept have the most idiotic IT "professionals" working there.
Usually it is the Sciences dept like Mech-E or Tech-E or Elec-E who run massive Compute nodes for Rendering Physics or Fluid dynamics or something something research ....
Unfortunately, the Unis that have massive student dorms on-campus tend not to isolate their networks properly and allow students to directly connect to all depts Networks without any barriers. The isolation happens between LAN and Internet which is where most of the controls and filtering happens.
It would be nice if each dept had their own VPN servers and proper network isolation at the LAN instead of the crazy monkey wiring everything to everything else on-campus.