CRAZY college networking ideas

[Scrapster]

We have ethernet access in my dorm, but the building next to us does NOT. We friend is always complaining that they don't have ethernet there, so we've been passing around the idea of somehow splitting my connection and wiring it up to his building next door. We don't know if we can actually pull it off, but it's worth a shot. BTW, this is something we want to do as cheaply as possible (it's mostly just for kicks, we don't want to sell our books doing it).

Idea #1
Just run a straight stretch cable from my building to his, not quite sure if we are within the 100m range, if the distance is further, what do we need to entend the signal?

Idea#2
Run a cable from my room outside and connect it to a server (486 or something w/ 2 nics) bury it, and use the second nic to run a connection through his window. I thought this would be a better idea if range was going to be an issue. For example, if the distance between his room and mine were 150m, we could setup the server halfway (75m) and I'm not sure if this is correct, but the server could generate a stronger signal back to his room. Please correct me if this is not correct.

Anyways, this is what we've been discussing. Can you guys think of any ways (the crazier the better) of how we can pull this off?

Scrapster

 

[skyjuice]

go with the first idea- get a hub/repeater and you should be set-

I dont think they are that much- havent priced them but yes. 100m is the max with cat 5 ethernet

 

[Scrapster]

What is a repeater?

Is it something you can use as like a 'coupler' ? or do you need to install it into a computer to make it work?

Scraps

 

[Quickfingerz]

what about wireless?

 

[Z24]

go wireless... most likely the easist way.

running an unprotected cable outside is just begging for trouble. BUT, if you do run the cable outside, you might want to look into putting surge protectors on either end to protect your computers.

As for the distance, just use a cheap, small hub in the middle if you need to for the distance. The official length is 100m, but you can get away with more than that.

If there are other people in the "unwired" dorm, you could always get them to chip in for the cost, and wire everybody up. Just don't tell the university.

 

[Scrapster]

My next question would be, do all hubs require an electric plugin? or can they run off the power of the network signal (I'm not sure if this is actually true). Because finding a power outlet between our buildings would be quite a task.

Is there such thing as a battery powered hub?

Scraps

 

[willhart]

ALl hubs or repeaters require A/C power. There might be one that would run on batteries but you would have to replace it daily. You best bet would be possibly getting a cheapo Fiber Optic network card(more expensive than a normal cat 5 ethernet). Or another would be a BNC network card which is the same price as a ether net, but slower. Both have the range your talking about. Fiber goes 1000m and BNC which looks kinda like a cable line goes 300m. I don't know about fiber, but I've seen Ethernet(cat 5)/BNC network cards all in 1 for about 40-50 bucks.

Good luck!!!

 

[CTR]

You are not going to be able to run cable in the ground. You will probably be fined and evicted. Explore wireless if you really want to do this. Be prepared to pay. And I hate to sound like a broken record (because I say this every time this subject comes up) but check your Acceptable Use Agreement because you are most likely violating it. And check with your net admin as well becuase he will most likely not like the idea if you are planning on sharing your 'net access.

 

[Sinner]

Wireless is your best bet, and considerably less risky.

If you have line of site you can even use parabolic directional antennas. Set ups like this with 802.11 compatible lan cards with Line of Site can go 15 kms.

 

[stash]

If you like your ethernet connection, you will stop entertaining all thoughts of splitting your connection.

This is probably the thing that EDU admins despise the most. And they WILL catch you. Someone at my school got his personal drop disconnected for doing something stupid, so he split his roomates connection. Needless to say, he ended up in front of judicial review in a hurry, and came about as close as you can to being kicked out.

Admins will check the router (or switch) logs, and see two MAC address coming through one port. Many EDUs (contrary to all the news stories) are pretty tolerant of napster and even FTP servers if you keep the bandwith usage down. But when you split a connection, they get fired up.

Tell your friend to bitch to the college administration--if hes paying the same room and board as you are, he has a significant beef. These days, a student can argue that a lack of a connection to the internet is preventing them from being properly educated, as many classes have content on the web. Of course, the administration will tell him to go to a public computer lab, but he still has a legitimate claim.

Just dont try stringing cables everywhere. If you dont get caught by the net admins, campus police will surely have something to say about it. You could go wireless, and even run a proxy to get around the MAC address problem, but I have to agree with CTR. Violating the user agreement is analogous to cheating on an exam.