I weep for the future

[the_randomizer]

Okay, here's the situation, so I live in an apartment complex, right? This place is supposed to, or at least based of several reviews, have relatively fast internet. As stated by a friend who lives in this complex, up until three or so months ago, the internet was working just fine. However, management decided to install new routers throughout the complex; this however, made things much worse, dropping the download/upload speed to abysmal levels.

I move in and have to acclimatize myself to the crappy speeds, and eventually, I do. And yet again, management or some IT worker decides to install so-called wireless signal boosters to "fix" the poor speeds. This makes the already horrible speed much more horrible. To make sure we weren't imagining, we unplugged the signal booster and router (direct ethernet) to bypass it just to run speed tests and sure enough, they were exponentially faster. The first test yielded 8mbps, which isn't too shabby, but as soon as we plugged it back into the router and reconnected the booster, it dropped down to this.



Something needs to be done, and from where I'm typing, the nearest ethernet /RJ45 jack is twenty feet away; I don't want a six-meter cable running on the floor.

As you can see, this is not normal. I know wireless isn't as fast as ethernet, but really? .021mbps versus 8.0mbps? I'm not here to pay $130 for slow internet, and seeing as my schooling requires a, you know, REAL broadband connection, it downright pisses me off. Suggestions? Everyone in this complex suffers from the lack of decent connection speeds.

Just to compare, my parents get 40mbps with Comcast.

__________________
CPU - 3rd Gen Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
Extensions - MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EIST,
AVX, Hyper Threading, Intel VT-x, AES-NI, Turbo Boost 2.0, TXT, Smart Cache
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5
RAM - 8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
HDD - Western Digital 1 TB

"If you call up your local hardware store and ask them how you can put tractor tires onto a 1990 Honda, well there's gonna be some laughter, a visit from the cops, maybe a psychiatric nurse." - Red Green

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Last edited by the_randomizer; July 10th, 2012 at 08:14..

[Strike105X]

lol i couldn't stop laughing at the dramatic title. Still your story feels quite strange , here only the firm which distributes internet has full authority till your apartment, building managers or such have no business messing with it, even so seems that the only thing that can be done is for you all (i mean complex residents) to gang up on them even try some sue threats for them to provide the appropriate service, otherwise i see no other possibility.

__________________

DeviantArt|AnimeList|PC Config

[ElijahTW]

So the internet connection is fine at the ethernet jack - and you have a jack nearby? Get cheap properly working wireless router (my vote is for the cheap netgear routers - they work pretty well.) and connect it to that. Problem solved!

Leave the network open if you wanna help out your neighbors.

__________________

"I used to think gas was expensive, then I realized we're buying liquid exploding dinosaurs."

[runawayprisoner]

^ and I wholeheartedly agree with this. Unless there is some rule against it...

[the_randomizer]

Originally Posted by Strike105X

lol i couldn't stop laughing at the dramatic title. Still your story feels quite strange , here only the firm which distributes internet has full authority till your apartment, building managers or such have no business messing with it, even so seems that the only thing that can be done is for you all (i mean complex residents) to gang up on them even try some sue threats for them to provide the appropriate service, otherwise i see no other possibility.

Sorry for the dramatic title, but the whole internet situation is pissing me off. I don't even know who our ISP is, but I think it's something called Voracity or something weird like that. If they had gone with Comcast instead, then we would get real connection speeds of >0.2mbps. I can't even download a 10MB in less than three minutes! Large files download partway and give me an message that says "interrupted" or "connection lost". I really don't know how to find out who our ISP is. There must be IT workers around here.

But my roommate and I are going to gather irrefutable data/evidence proving to them just how bad the speeds are, and we are also going to ask people around the complex to sign their names on a petition indicating that they suffer from it as well. From there, we will present it to whoever's in charge of the internet and if they refuse to listen to use, we will raise hell. Okay maybe we shouldn't give them hell, but should at least explain that if we're going to live here and pay our own way, we should expect a better connection, and not one that drops faster than an old man's pair of pants.

Originally Posted by ElijahTW

So the internet connection is fine at the ethernet jack - and you have a jack nearby? Get cheap properly working wireless router (my vote is for the cheap netgear routers - they work pretty well.) and connect it to that. Problem solved!

Leave the network open if you wanna help out your neighbors.

That's the problem, where I have my laptop (on a table), the nearest jack is twenty feet away and I don't want to get a cable that long. I believe I need approval from management to get my own router; maybe they're just afraid of the tenants having a real internet connection. I like to keep it where everyone else is because I prefer to take advantage of verbal communication and can't stand isolating myself in the bowels of my room. Before I moved out, I wasn't very social and kept to myself on my PC at home, but here, I have my laptop in the living room to better socialize, but that's another story. The internet is abysmal and even customer reviews stated that the internet is supposedly decent here. Right now, it ain't decent, it's just as a bad as the dial-up I had back in 1996. This is supposed to be a broadband cable connection, not 26.6kbps dial-up. I can see a rural town having one, but not in a metropolitan area with a population of 250,000 people.

__________________
CPU - 3rd Gen Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
Extensions - MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EIST,
AVX, Hyper Threading, Intel VT-x, AES-NI, Turbo Boost 2.0, TXT, Smart Cache
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5
RAM - 8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
HDD - Western Digital 1 TB

"If you call up your local hardware store and ask them how you can put tractor tires onto a 1990 Honda, well there's gonna be some laughter, a visit from the cops, maybe a psychiatric nurse." - Red Green

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Last edited by the_randomizer; July 10th, 2012 at 15:30..

[Strike105X]

I think i see how it is, since you don't even know your isp, that probably means that the contract is made with the complex owner, not with the individuals staying there, so basically you and others need to resolve this problem with the complex's management. Like i said the only way for this to work out is if you all unite and put some pressure on the management.

__________________

DeviantArt|AnimeList|PC Config

[the_randomizer]

Originally Posted by Strike105X

I think i see how it is, since you don't even know your isp, that probably means that the contract is made with the complex owner, not with the individuals staying there, so basically you and others need to resolve this problem with the complex's management. Like i said the only way for this to work out is if you all unite and put some pressure on the management.

That's what I thought, and hopefully they can and will do something about it. Perhaps if I tell them that my university major demands that it's imperative to have a fast connection, and if they value me as a tenant/customer, they will cater to our needs. In fact, my roommate told me that, if they don't do anything about it, he will tell his friends (who plan on moving here in the winter) to NOT sign a contract with this complex. Yeah, we're willing to go as far as deter potential customers if need be.

__________________
CPU - 3rd Gen Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
Extensions - MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EIST,
AVX, Hyper Threading, Intel VT-x, AES-NI, Turbo Boost 2.0, TXT, Smart Cache
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5
RAM - 8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
HDD - Western Digital 1 TB

"If you call up your local hardware store and ask them how you can put tractor tires onto a 1990 Honda, well there's gonna be some laughter, a visit from the cops, maybe a psychiatric nurse." - Red Green

[Ahielia]

I believe I need approval from management to get my own router

If you're getting a separate in-line, then yes.

Where I live there's just 1 jack in each apartment, and I use my own router as an access point (as there's a router giving out IPs).
Both the manager and the dude managing the actual network (2 different people) know about it, and they don't care. Only thing is that when there's been a problem with the network, they've asked if I tried disconnecting it. Not being a total idiot, of course I did.

If you configure it with your pc first (not connected to the network), you can both disable DHCP, and hide the SSID, so if the manager doesn't come into your place and actually sees it (in which case you can say it's just a switch to connect several devices) - and even then is there a way to find a hidden network and lock it to a specific jack?

Don't know how it is over there across the Atlantic, but are the managers allowed to just enter the tenant's apartment with their consent?

Because it's not allowed here.

[the_randomizer]

Originally Posted by Ahielia

If you're getting a separate in-line, then yes.

Where I live there's just 1 jack in each apartment, and I use my own router as an access point (as there's a router giving out IPs).
Both the manager and the dude managing the actual network (2 different people) know about it, and they don't care. Only thing is that when there's been a problem with the network, they've asked if I tried disconnecting it. Not being a total idiot, of course I did.

If you configure it with your pc first (not connected to the network), you can both disable DHCP, and hide the SSID, so if the manager doesn't come into your place and actually sees it (in which case you can say it's just a switch to connect several devices) - and even then is there a way to find a hidden network and lock it to a specific jack?

Don't know how it is over there across the Atlantic, but are the managers allowed to just enter the tenant's apartment with their consent?

Because it's not allowed here.

As for managers entering the dorms without one's consent, I believe that would be illegal in the US, since it's a violation of one's right to have his/her privacy. For making a network "hidden", I don't know enough about networking to set it up, and like I said, I believe I need permission to install my own router, since it wouldn't be their standard sh***y router. Either way, we're all getting screwed over badly when it comes to the internet; and like I said before, three minutes for a ten megabyte download is absolutely inexcusable.

__________________
CPU - 3rd Gen Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
Extensions - MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EIST,
AVX, Hyper Threading, Intel VT-x, AES-NI, Turbo Boost 2.0, TXT, Smart Cache
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5
RAM - 8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
HDD - Western Digital 1 TB

"If you call up your local hardware store and ask them how you can put tractor tires onto a 1990 Honda, well there's gonna be some laughter, a visit from the cops, maybe a psychiatric nurse." - Red Green

[Ahielia]

For making a network "hidden", I don't know enough about networking to set it up

2 most commonly used local IPs for routers are 192.168.1.1 and 10.0.0.1 (at least around here, and either way the router's handbook will tell you), enter it in your browser and you're taken to the configuration page.

I believe it's called "Broadcast SSID" on my Netgear.

[the_randomizer]

Ugh. Wish I knew what brand the bloody thing was, but I can't even see the brand, much less the model, so I can't find out the IP address.

Never mind, used the ipfonfig command and it doesn't allow me to access the address from the default gateway. Bollocks.

Perhaps this can give a clue as to what's going on: Now I'm getting 13kbps.

__________________
CPU - 3rd Gen Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
Extensions - MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EIST,
AVX, Hyper Threading, Intel VT-x, AES-NI, Turbo Boost 2.0, TXT, Smart Cache
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5
RAM - 8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
HDD - Western Digital 1 TB

"If you call up your local hardware store and ask them how you can put tractor tires onto a 1990 Honda, well there's gonna be some laughter, a visit from the cops, maybe a psychiatric nurse." - Red Green

---

Last edited by the_randomizer; July 10th, 2012 at 23:16..

[Ahielia]

Try pinging the "default gateway" IP.
Anything less than 1ms is fail.

[the_randomizer]

Originally Posted by Ahielia

Try pinging the "default gateway" IP.
Anything less than 1ms is fail.

Really? Okay, I'll try that and report back.

Edit: Yep. It averaged out at 22ms. Crap.

__________________
CPU - 3rd Gen Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
Extensions - MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EIST,
AVX, Hyper Threading, Intel VT-x, AES-NI, Turbo Boost 2.0, TXT, Smart Cache
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5
RAM - 8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
HDD - Western Digital 1 TB

"If you call up your local hardware store and ask them how you can put tractor tires onto a 1990 Honda, well there's gonna be some laughter, a visit from the cops, maybe a psychiatric nurse." - Red Green

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

Why are you trying to get into his router? The advice had been to get into your own once you've bought one....

__________________

Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83Ghz stock) | ASUS P5Q | 2x2GB Transcend JetRam DDR2-800 | ASUS ENGTX260\HDTP\896M | Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1

The Champ has retired but may his Legacy live on FOREVER !!!!

No$GBA DS FAQ 2.0

Get it right fools! The glass is HALF-EMPTY, not half-full!!!

!!! WARNING: Emulation requires a brain !!! WARNING: Emulation =/= Piracy !!!

[the_randomizer]

Originally Posted by SCHUMI_4EVER

Why are you trying to get into his router? The advice had been to get into your own once you've bought one....

Because I originally thought changing the channel would make a difference, but it turns out all of them use different channels. While I found out I don't need permission to install my own, he's convinced that it wouldn't do jack squat as far as making the connection faster/more stable, and that I need to speak to the management.

__________________
CPU - 3rd Gen Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
Extensions - MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EIST,
AVX, Hyper Threading, Intel VT-x, AES-NI, Turbo Boost 2.0, TXT, Smart Cache
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5
RAM - 8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
HDD - Western Digital 1 TB

"If you call up your local hardware store and ask them how you can put tractor tires onto a 1990 Honda, well there's gonna be some laughter, a visit from the cops, maybe a psychiatric nurse." - Red Green

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

It would have whatever speed the ethernet port has when used with a cable.

__________________

Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83Ghz stock) | ASUS P5Q | 2x2GB Transcend JetRam DDR2-800 | ASUS ENGTX260\HDTP\896M | Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1

The Champ has retired but may his Legacy live on FOREVER !!!!

No$GBA DS FAQ 2.0

Get it right fools! The glass is HALF-EMPTY, not half-full!!!

!!! WARNING: Emulation requires a brain !!! WARNING: Emulation =/= Piracy !!!

[Ahielia]

Originally Posted by Randomizer

he's convinced that it wouldn't do jack squat as far as making the connection faster/more stable

I was under the impression that the speed was fine with the jack, but not wireless.
If that's the case, then connecting your own as an access point would make the speed as it should be.
Also if that's the case, tell him to stop talking out of his arse.

[the_randomizer]

Originally Posted by Ahielia

I was under the impression that the speed was fine with the jack, but not wireless.
If that's the case, then connecting your own as an access point would make the speed as it should be.
Also if that's the case, tell him to stop talking out of his arse.

Well, it's definitely more stable, but if we could bypass the router altogether, it would be a lot faster. It would have made more sense to have Ethernet jacks in the living room in addition to the bedrooms, but since I have a laptop, speakers, a mouse and an Xbox360 controller, moving all that back to my bedroom is a real PITA. The problem also poses an issue to my current social life; which is the primary reason for moving out in the first place. At home, I'd use the PC with headphones on and never utter a peep, so when I moved here, I placed the laptop in the kitchen/living room to resolve the whole isolation-while-using-a-computer issue. But like I said before, the routers here suck balls, the only thing I know is that they have a model number that says DES-1108.

Edit: It's a D-Link it seems, and I hear that they're not the best brand to get.

__________________
CPU - 3rd Gen Core i5 3570 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz Turbo Boost)
Extensions - MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EIST,
AVX, Hyper Threading, Intel VT-x, AES-NI, Turbo Boost 2.0, TXT, Smart Cache
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5
RAM - 8192MB DDR3 SDRAM 1333
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
HDD - Western Digital 1 TB

"If you call up your local hardware store and ask them how you can put tractor tires onto a 1990 Honda, well there's gonna be some laughter, a visit from the cops, maybe a psychiatric nurse." - Red Green