My apartment's free internet "connection" is crap what can I do?

[Zorba]

Okay, I just moved into a apartment about 3 weeks ago, it is all bills including a free internet "high-speed" connection. Well to start with the connection is only a T1 line for about ~75 apartments so I knew it was really going to be very high speed. But then I get here and find out it is down more than up. It is down all the time making it impossible to do anything online. Even when it is up it kicks you off for about 30 seconds every 10 minutes or so, which gets very annoying. Now, I really don't want to go out and get a different internet service because I am already paying for the one with my rent, which was a large reason why I moved into these apartments. But they made me sign sometime when I moved in that basically said that the internet can be down all the time and I can't b*tch about it, etc. Considering they use it as a major selling point of the complex is there anything I can do?

 

[Heisenberg]

If you signed the paper, you're pretty much SOL. Get cable.

 

[Wahsapa]

do all 75 people really have computers hooked up?

figure out whats wrong and fix it?

buy dsl?

 

[brtspears2]

That's some poor TOS you signed up for. Buy your own service if having internet access is something you really must have.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Plug an ethernet cable into the data port and then cut off the other end and stick it into an electrical outlet.


I mean...uhh...get dsl?

 

[klah]

Get your own high speed connection and let other disgruntled neighbors buy cheap wireless access from you.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: klah
Get your own high speed connection and let other disgruntled neighbors buy cheap wireless access from you.

That's a pretty good idea!

 

[OverVolt]

Originally posted by: UglyCasanova

Originally posted by: klah
Get your own high speed connection and let other disgruntled neighbors buy cheap wireless access from you.

That's a pretty good idea!

Or they could bum it off you for free, which is what my sister does off some tech noob with his totally unprotected wifi network. Last i checked like 30people were on it lol, i don't think those are all his PC's in a tiny apartment

 

[slurm]

Or they could bum it off you for free, which is what my sister does off some tech noob with his totally unprotected wifi network. Last i checked like 30people were on it lol, i don't think those are all his PC's in a tiny apartment

That's what wardriving is for, especially in a jeep

 

[Kelemvor]

If part of their adtertising was saying how great their free Internet is and now you find out it's not, I'm sure you could do somethign if you wanted to since it was misleading and false advertising.

I'd find out who's providing the service and post that informatino to everyone in the complex and get them all to call in all the time to copmlain and rag on them to fix the problem.

 

[woowoo]

Complain in writing.
Often

Then ask for a rebate on the rent.

 

[FoBoT]

find out who runs it and why they are incompetent

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: OverVolt

Originally posted by: UglyCasanova

Originally posted by: klah
Get your own high speed connection and let other disgruntled neighbors buy cheap wireless access from you.

That's a pretty good idea!

Or they could bum it off you for free, which is what my sister does off some tech noob with his totally unprotected wifi network. Last i checked like 30people were on it lol, i don't think those are all his PC's in a tiny apartment

hahah thats how it is in my complex, I can reach 4 different wireless networks from my room, but I've got 3mbit dsl and a jacked up wrt54g running vpn passthrough to my 2k server, I figure if I spent that much time getting it all set up right might as well use mine lol.

 

[olds]

Do the same thing you would do if the sink was leaking.
Tell the management to fix what you are paying for.
If they try to tell you it is free tell them that is BS, nothing is free. They just add it to the rent. Then kick him in the shins and leave.

 

[Zorba]

Originally posted by: Wahsapa
do all 75 people really have computers hooked up?

figure out whats wrong and fix it?

buy dsl?

I am sure at least half the apartments have at least one computer hooked up to the network. But like I said I figured the internet would be slow, that doesn't bother me much what bothers me is it is always down. I don't want to get my own service because I don't have a phone line so DSL or cable would both cost around 45 a month which is a lot when I am supposed to be getting it free.


Thanks for the good advice oldsmoboat

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: klah
Get your own high speed connection and let other disgruntled neighbors buy cheap wireless access from you.

Probably the best idea. If you just get a couple people who are equally disgruntled to split the cost, 5 or 10 each for service would be well worth it.

 

[dman]

Keep in mind that if you decide to redistribute / share a line you are going to be the front line for any people abusing it. In otherwords, if they start sharing music or warez and somebody decides to track it down it's going to be your IP and your name on the bill. And believe me, saying it's not you doing it isn't going to help as the civil lawsuit will cost you money to defend REGARDLESS of whether or not you are guilty.

Think it's a long shot that will happen? RIAA is doing it, MPAA is doing it, etc...

Yeah, you probably won't go to jail but defending yourself ain't cheap. So just think about it.

 

[Shelly21]

Originally posted by: OverVolt

Originally posted by: UglyCasanova

Originally posted by: klah
Get your own high speed connection and let other disgruntled neighbors buy cheap wireless access from you.

That's a pretty good idea!

Or they could bum it off you for free, which is what my sister does off some tech noob with his totally unprotected wifi network. Last i checked like 30people were on it lol, i don't think those are all his PC's in a tiny apartment

Isn't it limited to the number of wireless connection a router could have? I recently discovered my next door's cable wireless unprotected. I can use it on the north side of the house (bed room and computer room).

 

[OverVolt]

Originally posted by: Shelly21

Originally posted by: OverVolt

Originally posted by: UglyCasanova

Originally posted by: klah
Get your own high speed connection and let other disgruntled neighbors buy cheap wireless access from you.

That's a pretty good idea!

Or they could bum it off you for free, which is what my sister does off some tech noob with his totally unprotected wifi network. Last i checked like 30people were on it lol, i don't think those are all his PC's in a tiny apartment

Isn't it limited to the number of wireless connection a router could have? I recently discovered my next door's cable wireless unprotected. I can use it on the north side of the house (bed room and computer room).

No, not at all, i tried all the standard home router IP's and found it was a linksys, so i went in (using the default PW of admin with no username for linksys routers) and change the settings so pretty much like 200-240people could use the wireless. I thought about changing the PW and kicking the guy off his own router but then if he was smart enough he would figure it out and reset his router and start protecting it.

 

[jyates]

Same thing happened to one of the boss's daugthers. She lived in an apt. away at college
and the connection was always coming and going there also.

He twisted their arms and they allowed him to short pay them monthly the amount
that cable cost her since they couldn't keep their system up and running smoothly.