Gigabit Ethernet Media Converter required at college?

[somenimit]

Hi, my cousin is going to school at Case Western University in Cleveland, and she called me up telling me that they said that they need to purchase something called a " Gigabit Ethernet Media Converter" which is about $230 inorder for the internet to work. This is the product she needs to get: http://www.netgear.com/products/prod_details.asp?prodID=161

It seems crazy to me that she has to buy something so expensive for just her internet to work. What exactly is this thing, and is there some way around having to buy it? Any information would be appreciated! Thanks.

Best,
Nimit

 

[IceNineJon]

Not sure why they said he/she needed this but I highly doubt it. This device converts an optical gigabit connection to a copper one and vice versa. Unless your cousin is trying to do some heavy duty networking or connect to the university's Internet2 pipe or something, he/she doesn't need this. All universities that I've seen just require a standard 10/100 NIC.

 

[skriefal]

They might have fiber running through the dorms, in which case that converter very well might be needed to obtain any sort of network connection whatsoever. Still, that'd certainly be rather unusual. If you order one of the Netgear boxes, make sure to buy it from a place that will accept returns without huge restocking fees.

 

[IceNineJon]

I've never heard of a school with fiber in the dorms...doesn't mean it's not out there but still. Why would you want your students to have that kind of bandwidth? Most universities can't even handle a 10Mbps connection (although mine could...I'd sometimes get about a megabyte a second but that was rare). Even so...I'm still doubtful they'd have fiber in the dorms. But yeah, if you think you really need it, make sure you can return it. I'd double check and give them a call first though.

 

[somenimit]

I'm pretty sure now that they need it. Check out this article about case western:
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/07/20/loc_case_western_taps.html

and then case western's own guide about how to set up internet in dorms:
http://housing.cwru.edu/operations/opening/0304/gigabit.html

do you guys know any places to get this converter for cheaper than $230 or so? Thanks a lot!

Nimit

 

[IceNineJon]

Ah, Internet2. Not sure what your cousin's computer's like but I'd get the Netgear GA621 mentioned in option 2 and put that in there. $184 sure beats the expensive switch. Internet2's cool but I don't see it having such an effect in a dorm that warrants such expensive hardware for both the school and the students.

 

[bigshooter]

I don't think $200 for a card to allow them access to gigabit over fiber is out of the question. If i remember back in 1997 when I live in a dorm, 100mbit ethernet cards were not "cheap", at least not by today's standards. I think they still cost around $50 (I don't remember). We weren't connecting over fiber fiber to a gigabit network either. I hope the girl attending this school isn't taking some 3 year old Emachine with her. If you have access to a network that fast, I hope she has an up to date system to take advantage of it.

 

[IceNineJon]

It's not out of the question but you have to admit for the average student who's just going to be checking email, doing research on the web, talking online, and downloading MP3s (yeah), forcing them to pay $200 when they could just go out and get a 10/100 NIC for $5 is a little expensive .

 

[somenimit]

Yeah exactly. What is more, since my cousin has a dell 5100, which doesn't come with a gigabit compatible nic (i don't know what the technical term for this is, i'm sorry), she has to buy the $525 option. This is plainly ridiculous for someone who is a biology major who will be checking email, browsing the web and chatting on the internet. They should atleast have these things available for rent for students, instead of forcing them to purchase them. Anyhow, I think we'll just have to go ahead and purchase it, as there is no other option. thanks for all of your help!

 

[cmetz]

Check Ebay. 1000BaseSX fiber NICs are not terribly expensive used because there's not much market for them. Say $50-$100.

 

[martind1]

I dont get why a school would do this to the students?

AS was said, most of the schools dont have the internet connection to support this.

I just don't get it due to the costs involved.

was there really a demand for gigabit in the dorms?

 

[IceNineJon]

AS was said, most of the schools dont have the internet connection to support this.

This school's on Internet2 so they definitely have the internet connection to support this but the bigger question is why they feel the need that every student in the dorm needs this. Internet2 is used for highly specific net applications which the average biology student isn't going to need.

 

[martind1]

I didn't even think they want joe user getting directly into internet2.

I thought it was for sophisticated things/people.

 

[Little Po]

I'm a student at CWRU...

If you have a laptop you'll need the Gigabit Ethernet Converter but if your cousin has a desktop just buy a fiber gigabit card...

And yes the dorms have fiber... a few years ago we used to have ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) 155MB network. Don't ask me why

 

[vortix]

Originally posted by: IceNineJon
I've never heard of a school with fiber in the dorms...doesn't mean it's not out there but still. Why would you want your students to have that kind of bandwidth? Most universities can't even handle a 10Mbps connection (although mine could...I'd sometimes get about a megabyte a second but that was rare). Even so...I'm still doubtful they'd have fiber in the dorms. But yeah, if you think you really need it, make sure you can return it. I'd double check and give them a call first though.

Yes - I am from Cleveland and know for a fact that Case does in fact have fiber throughout the dorms

 

[BS911]

I wish I would have went to that school when I was in college!!