Me and my roommate live close enough to campus to pick up the NCState Nomad Wireless network. We're just afraid it won't be as reliable or private as RR is. Of course, Nomad is already paid for (NCState Student Fees) where-as RR is another $40 a month.

So far this summer it has worked intermittently, but we haven't bothered mounting the router in a great place for reception. [blanked pending research into legality]

While it was set up it seemed to work marvelously. about 7 Mbps down and 7 Mbps up, which beats the hell out of Road Runner's 5Mbps down and 0.5Mbps up. However, some days the network just refuses to connect properly, as if the network just vanished. But a day later it is back up and working perfectly.

My question is, anyone that knows the Nomad system, could these hiccups have been network maintenance? Or is it possible that it was caused by interference that I could get around with better placement of my router? Also, how bad will service probably get once school starts and other people are actually using the network?

Any help would be appreciated, Thanks

[Edited on August 15, 2006 at 6:40 PM. Reason : .,.]

8/15/2006 6:18:18 PM

i bet this is against their TOS and since clevow reads tww - i'd bet this won't work much longer

on the off chance that resnet/itd or whoever it is should care doesn't - as long as your antenna is as strong as theirs (or strong enough to reach their router) then the only problem i'd guess is some sort of interference between the 2 points

8/15/2006 6:22:37 PM

Quote :

"Also, how bad will service probably get once school starts and other people are actually using the network? "

Pretty bad. Add in the interference from all sorts of other sources and forget it.

Quote :

"we haven't bothered mounting the router in a great place for reception"

+

Quote :

"bet this is against their TOS "

http://www.ncsu.edu/it/rulesregs/wireless/implementation-rules.html

And just a general question ... how are you going to authenticate to nomad with the router? Hacked firmware?

[Edited on August 15, 2006 at 6:34 PM. Reason : .]

8/15/2006 6:34:44 PM

you could do it by getting the signal with a laptop, authenticating, and then cloning the mac to a router. doing this is undetectable. I would get or build a powered wireless antenna and I bet you'll stop dropping the signal

8/15/2006 6:41:00 PM

^^ Easy, Nomad allows you to set it up to auto-associate your MAC address with your login credentials, thus not requiring you to log-in to Nomad each time your session times out every 20 or so hours. That said, it isn't necessary to use a laptop because the Router can log on by itself, after that all you need to do is load up your web browser on your computer and log-in that way. NAT makes the router look just like a laptop.

"I would get or build a powered wireless antenna and I bet you'll stop dropping the signal"
They sell such?

[Edited on August 15, 2006 at 6:45 PM. Reason : ^]

8/15/2006 6:42:35 PM

as long as you are a student this is completely within the TOS of the university.

get your router in a better location and a directional antennae and you should be set.

8/15/2006 6:48:22 PM

Advantages:
-Save $40-$50 per month

Disadvantages:
-Lack of Security
-Right to monitor/log network traffic
-Unreliable service

Dunno, worth a shot looking into. If the service becomes unreliable, can at least say you tried.

(And it is possible to get wireless out in Pullen Park doing this?)

8/15/2006 6:56:19 PM

the worst i'd think would be no security at all - if you use AIM then all conversations can be read - be sure you have ssl setup for outlook/other mail client if you use imap - be sure to never use ftp/telnet or any other service where you send a password in plaintext

8/15/2006 6:58:20 PM

is snooping that bad on campus?

8/15/2006 7:48:23 PM

I'd say build a cantenna for a few bucks and see if that does the trick.
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html

Worst case -- you can always sign up for RR later if it doesn't work out.

8/15/2006 9:44:40 PM

i don't *think* this violates the TOS as long as all people accessing the network are affiliated with NCSU. not positive on that though.

the key point from the previously posted link is this:
E. Running remote services (web server, ftp server, nfs server, any person-to-person file sharing services, etc.) is PROHIBITED on the NC State Nomad Computing Environment and on public wireless networks. However, users of Nomad Computing Environment and public wireless networks will be able to connect to such services provided elsewhere.

they will shut you down for that.

oh, and you might want to check out this link: http://nomad.ncsu.edu/nmr/dynamic/index.py

8/15/2006 10:32:24 PM

i would think that the problem would arise if you are rebroadcasting wireless and you don't lock down access to your broadcasting router to NCSU-afilliated people only via MAC filtering or something. then you'd be sharing your automatic NCSU connection with everyone who is in range of your broadcasting router.

[Edited on August 15, 2006 at 10:55 PM. Reason : -]

8/15/2006 10:54:22 PM

he already mentioned his roommate would be using the router also - is it not against TOS to use someone else's login?

8/15/2006 11:29:29 PM

it's against the TOS to *give* someone else your user ID and password. and it's against the policies to allow someone to *use* your ID and password to gain access to something they shouldn't have access to.

8/16/2006 7:00:34 AM

sounds like you got the go ahead LoneSnark

8/17/2006 12:31:06 AM

shout out to LDH/STP - well while we're at it - TVX and PUA/FON too

8/17/2006 12:45:41 AM

lol nice

8/17/2006 7:36:22 AM

Quote :

"sounds like you got the go ahead LoneSnark"

but you'll have to tell your roommate to suck it

8/17/2006 8:49:27 AM

I don't believe so; he's an NCState student too. But it is true that I would be assuming responsibility for his actions on the internet... Not sure how wise that is.

8/17/2006 11:42:51 AM