The Metamorphosis
Imagine the excitement of moving out of your residence as you are finally a first-year college student. But then, something pops into your head; you panic quickly and say, “Do college dorms have Wi-Fi?!”
It is no surprise that college students now consider an Internet connection an addition to the modern hierarchy of needs. So today, let me share my college student hacks with you to get that stable wireless connection in your dorm room.
Wireless connectivity is now typically being provided by colleges and universities. The wired Internet connection may be located in your residence halls, or they can let students set up their own routers in their dorm rooms and/or giving free access to the computer lab.
For the Internet speed, well, of course, it will depend on the Internet subscription and your college’s location. Besides your dorm room, learn to spot places with a strong Internet connection around your campus. It could be in the dining hall, laundry room, near the vending machines. Or maybe even near the bathroom?
You, students, may also experience slower connections during times of high traffic, such as evenings and weekends, so learn to use the Internet all the time efficiently. Other than that, there are more things to look into regarding your college dorm’s Internet connection:
- Make use of the Ethernet connection
- Use wireless network adapter
- Know the basics of troubleshooting
- Know the limitations and sites that are banned
- Monitor scheduled outages
- Low traffic? Perfect time to download and stream.
- Refrain from using things that may block the signal
Table of Contents
7 Hacks for Maximizing your Internet Connectivity Inside Your College Dorm Room
Below are various alternatives for making the most out of your Internet connection in your college dorm room.
Make use of the Ethernet connection.
You won’t have to worry about outages if you use an Ethernet cable to connect your router to your device. It will almost certainly result in a faster internet connection.
I strongly advise you to get an Ethernet cord that is long enough to allow you to roam freely inside your dorm room, at your own convenience!
Use a wireless network adapter.
If the Ethernet ports are not available near your dorm room, you must rely on wireless connectivity. Wireless Internet connection should be readily available within your dorm or even all over the campus.
To use it, just connect it to your device’s USB port, follow the instructions, and you’re good to go! Please note that this will only help if you have difficulty obtaining a signal in your room.
Know the basics of troubleshooting.
When my friends have Internet connection problems, I’m always their go-to techy person. But in many cases, resolving an issue takes no longer than thirty seconds. So, it would help if you, students, were prepared to understand how to reconnect to networks, use manual device restarts, erase website cookies, and many other things. These things will save you time!
Know the limitations and sites that are banned.
At some colleges, students cannot access sites containing adult material, torrents, streaming services for illicit movies and television shows, social media, and more. But, it’s also possible that they may potentially restrict access to “common” websites, including video streaming and gaming websites.
But here’s my secret: You may attempt site-specific hacks, such as running the website via a web proxy or by using a VPN service, for you to bypass site blocking.
Monitor scheduled outages.
Before any outage, colleges usually send out an email to students and posts an announcement on the school’s website. To keep yourself informed about outages and how to deal with them, bookmark this page and check it often.
Knowing it’s not only you who is having a bad time on the Internet is also beneficial!
Low traffic? Perfect time to download and stream.
As a student, you know almost everyone does download things or sometimes stream their favorite shows on the Internet. This may entirely result in you experiencing sluggish Internet speeds if all of the students do that at the same time.
For my tip, you should try to accomplish things that need the Internet when you’re in class, over the morning weekends, or when everyone else is asleep!
Refrain from using things that may block the signal
It may seem strange, but many things, such as microwaves, may affect your Internet connectivity. Other major appliances (i.e., refrigerators, washing machines, stoves, microwaves, etc.) appear on this list, as well!
So, learn to position your router as far away from these things as possible. Are you surprised? Even a tiny item may noticeably cut down your signal!
I hope this article has given you fresh insights into your college dorm’s Internet connection or at least has shown you what to expect once you move into your dorm room. May your Internet connection be speedy and lengthy service interruptions pass even faster!
