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My hall has no Internet access!

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I found out today that the student accommodation I'll be living in will not have any Internet access. This worries me, because I'm a 100% total Internet geek. Also, I'm studying graphic design and I'd say it's pretty damn important to do research on the net.

Anyway, my question is this: Is there any way of getting Internet access in a student hall that doesn't have it already available? Can I get it from a private company? I was thinking maybe some sort of wireless Internet? Is anything like this available?

I've been searching on Telewest's, NTL's and Virgin.net's sites but I can't find anything.

I have had the Internet since 1999 in one form or another and the thought of not having it on demand in my room is worrying. Yes, I realise I can just go to the library and use it, but I use the net for enjoyment and sitting in a library kind of takes that away.

Anyway, suggestions please? Thanks.
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aw, that's awful. I rely on the internet a lot too (and I'm also studying graphic design, but that's a whole different matter!) and would hate not being able to log on at my leisure. It's part of my life, at home and in halls.

    I'm sure there is some sort of wireless scheme you can use though. I hope you get the internet one way or another!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I would lobby the university to have it put it by the people in your halls / student unions - its pretty rare not to have the internet in halls these days and the argument that it helps with research is a pretty good one.

    I'd say if you've got a good union rep and can get in a dialogue with someone you've got a fair chance, especially if you say everyone in halls agrees to pay an annual fee (at york I have to pay £60)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its unusual but not unheard of, I guess it's something you should have asked about.

    Do you have a phone connection? If you do you can probably get dial up through any number of sources. By all means try your union or whatever but if there's good provision in the library don't bank on getting much support. Another option would be to put into accomodation for a transfer to somewhere that does if it bothers you that much. Although you should be warned that internet access in halls is often through the uni network and thus you can't use it for all your private entertainment needs.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well being an internet geek isn't a necessity. perhaps you could use it as an excuse to be more sociable?

    i do most of my work at my uni library anyway. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think the arrangement with your halls stops you from making alterations so you couldn't go installing a BT line - even if you could afford it!

    UWE had halls reps who dealt with exactly this sort of problem, find out if you have one if not, start your campaign for office!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeah we had the same problem in the first year of uni, no internet in halls, and this on a computer engineering campus! bloody ludicrous, kind of sums up the uni really........we ended up having to get a bt line installed, but for some reason couldn't get adsl through the line so we had to share a dial-up connection 3 ways, it was a complete nightmare and we were frequently rowing over who was hogging all the bandwidth lol, all 56k of it.....needless to say i didn't stay there in the second year.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The reason I didn't ask before I accepted the room is because *every* other hall (and there's 11 in total) has Internet access. I just assumed that my room would be in one of those. Couple that with the fact that the office called me at 9:10am and I was still in bed and therefore not thinking straight and you can see my problem! :(

    In addition, the hall I'm in is actually an exchange student hall apparantly. How crap is that? Not that I have anything against overseas students, obviously but I find it weird that I've been given a room in an exchange student hall. I'm from Liverpool, not another country!

    The idea about lobbying to get it installed is a good one but I doubt I'd be listened to much, especially since the hall itself only houses 24 people. I'm sure their argument would be that it would cost too much to install and they wouldn't see any benefits.

    I'm calling the accommodation office tomorrow and asking if there's still a chance I can decline the room and instead, move into shared accommodation for two months and wait for another room to become available. As Neil said (And that's weird, my name is Neil too. Are you me? :eek2: ), the Internet is part of my life. It's not just a luxury I can easily do without for both course-related reasons and just personal enjoyment. And no, I don't mean porn! ;)

    Here's hoping they agree to my change of heart.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You'll get dumped in whatever they have going. The exchange thing doesn't mean much. Ring them up and be very nice and very persuasive and see if you can switch.

    What do you mean by shared accomodation? You may be hard pushed to find something else at this short notice. Which city are you in?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The idea was that I move into shared accommodation for 4-6 weeks. This was because they could not offer me a single room. I accepted this and assumed that for the first two months of Uni, I'd be living in shared accommodation; Two people, one room. However, on Friday, Chester's accommodation office called me and said they could offer me a single room right now and so of course I accepted it.

    Switching isn't an option. Everywhere's full. It was either shared accommodation or accept this single room and at the time of accepting it, as I say, I didn't know there'd be no net access.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There'll be internet access at the university library. I wouldn't worry too much unless you live like 5 miles from the uni itself.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I thought you meant shared as in a shared house rather than shared room. It's up to you, your call between personnal space and internet, although do check this time what the facilities are!

    If you want to try and get shared, then ring them first thing in the morning because that option may not still be there.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's up to you, your call between personnal space and internet

    I was/am quite willing to give up my personal space for two months. I just hope that option is still available.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well like I said, ring them first thing, then if they so no, ring at lunch, then in the afternoon. General experience from friends tends to say if you keep asking accomodation you eventually get.

    Do try not to get arsey though, it's not their fault you said yes to something you didn't want.

    Ring ring ring!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I called the accommodation office and asked if it was true that the hall had no Internet access. He said it was true, but that it's getting installed within the next few weeks. Looks like I'll have Internet access afterall.

    Result!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There you go, it's amazing what you find out when you ask!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If it's any consolation, I had a shared room and no internet!

    OK, that's not necessarily helpful. You'll probably find, though, that the uni libraries are open late. As long as you're not stopping anyone from working you'll probably have no trouble if you use it for "personal enjoyment" (unless you change your mind about that not meaning porn...)

    But, obviously, I'm all for people getting involved in their SUs so find your education / welfare officer and see how they can help you :)

    Edit... I've jsut realised I missed the important post in this thread. D'oh. Well now you know what to do if it doesn't get installed within 2 weeks...
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