WiFi at Usyd? (1 Viewer)

[victorhooi]

Hi,

Does anybody know how good the wireless at Usyd is? Is the coverage any good? Is it a hassle or a pain to set up?

Also, is it just me, but why is Usyd so cheapskate sometimes...we pay exorbitant union fees and the highest fees - who exactly is accountable for all the spending? Eg. $200 to USU - what exactly is this used for? We have to pay high rates for the use of facilities eg aquatic centre anyway, so where does it all go? Clubs?

Back on topic, at unsw with UniWide, you get free wireless bandwidth if you're CSE. I've changed to computer eng. at Usyd, and we get zilcho...no free printing quota, no free bandwidth (oh wait...yeah...3 Megs...), about 10 Megs of storage....and practically nothing else...seriously lame...

anyway, maybe i'm just ranting - anybody had experience with the wireless at Usyd?

thanks,
victor

 

[Phanatical]

Wireless is available in quite a few of the higher-populated areas of the uni, including the Fisher Library, Manning, Carslaw, and a lot of others. It's paid access though, at 16c a megabyte at last check.

USYD Union has a lot of people to pay. Like the President, who gets a rather large salary even after tax, his own office, and a whole bunch of fringe benefits like free union food.

 

[LazyBoy]

lol free union food is not a fringe benifit.

 

[011]

I remember seeing on some webpage that they were in the experimental phase of a free wireless network through most of usyd?

 

[Phanatical]

free, my ass.

 

[lbft]

If you're in a School of IT (i.e. Computer Science or Information Systems) unit, you get a free printing quota for use in the School of IT's labs (although you can't connect your own computer through wireless or wired ethernet -- you have to use their machines.)

 

[temuet]

Coverage: best in libraries, scarce in lecture theatres.

Ease: a bitch to set up (at least for this semi-computer-illiterate Mac user). You need to download VPS and configure all this shit and set up your browser. Not for the layman, but ok for you techies I suppose. I got the Fisher IT people to help me. I also have problems using non-browser programs eg. MSN messenger, Kazaa though I've seen other people using them fine.

Cost: There's the standard 6mb/day free web access (see http://helpdesk.usyd.edu.au/free_cache.html), then paid access afterwards. BUT...I don't know about this year, but last year somehow I managed to download like 100mb/day for free without tripping any wires (shhhh don't tell). They might have plugged up that loophole though.
Oh and uni sites are free, which is great since I email files from my laptop to my uni account for printing in the library.

Verdict: flawed but worth it for my surfing, emailing and file-sending needs. I haven't paid a cent in excess usage charges either.

Have a look at this site, it has all of the necessary info: http://www.usyd.edu.au/is/comms/wireless/

 

[Phanatical]

The free cache isn't supposed to apply to wireless.

 

[temuet]

Well...I'm using it right now, and it worked for me all last year. The library IT dude set it up for me.

Erratum from previous: VPN, not VPS.