Don’t hog the wifi: Students shouldn’t turn their laptops into hotspots

If students try to connect to the school’s wifi on a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP, they’ll notice it won’t allow them to.

It’s important to understand that this isn’t because the school won’t allow them to play video games, or is trying to prevent them from doing so; it’s because the device isn’t technically capable of connecting to the wifi due to the encryption system on the university’s network.

USD uses a large-scale encryption system, much like ones used at large corporations in order to protect all user information.

According to the IT department, when students connect to the wifi, their device must comply with a number of criteria so the information that’s sent and received through the wifi can be properly protected from those who wish to steal it, and handheld gaming devices don’t meet these criteria.

The IT department said it often gets blamed for this by people that claim they’re restricting them from playing video games, but this is simply untrue.

Some students try to get around this problem by setting up a proxy through their laptops. This is done by connecting a laptop to the internet via an ethernet cord, and then using a website or program like Connectify to turn the laptop into a wireless router or hotspot.

This activity is prohibited by USD, according to the IT department for good reason. Connecting to the internet in this way causes several problems, one of which being the effect it has on the school’s wifi.

Wifi routers communicate with devices using radio waves. When students enter a command into their device, it sends it to the router, which sends the information along the line until more information comes back, and is sent through the router to the device.

The time it takes for the whole cycle to turn over is called the “ping.” The shorter the ping, the faster the internet.

Turning a laptop into a wifi hotspot means students are competing with the routers in the area for radio channels, slowing down everybody else’s “ping,” thereby slowing down the internet for everybody else.

The IT department said it suggests students who use gaming consoles and computers connect with a cord when possible. This means students aren’t competing with others for limited wifi bandwidth. 

The IT department said it has provided infrastructure for those game using wired connections, that provides a more express channel from them to their gaming servers.

This means when students game, they have a more direct channel to their provider than a normal internet connection, enhancing the gaming experience.

In the end, the IT department isn’t responsible for the fact that students can’t connect their handheld gaming devices to the school wifi.