Category: general

We replaced our hardware.

Most rooms should be working, some cables need an electrician.

Next step is to stop the leaking heating.

The water is running through our electrical cabinet, some ports have already failed. Our hardware is now off the grid and will be scrapped.

We will set up new hardware later this evening and place it next to the cabinet in the dry.

Sadly, we often hear the following two statements:

It can’t be the router settings because my Wi-Fi is working.

and

Here’s a photo of my working Wi-Fi connection, so my internet must be broken.

The root of the issue seems to be that people don’t understand the difference between Wi-Fi and internet access.

Here are three examples that could explain the difference to you.

Imagine your home is like a big library (which represents the internet). The librarian (your router) helps you find and borrow books (data). You and your family members can chat with the librarian using walkie-talkies (this is your Wi-Fi connection).

Now, even if the librarian’s walkie-talkie is working fine and you can talk to them (you have a Wi-Fi connection), the library might be closed or inaccessible (internet connection is down).

So, having a working walkie-talkie (Wi-Fi) doesn’t necessarily mean the library (internet) is open. The two are related, but different!

or

Imagine your Wi-Fi router is like a post office in your home. All your devices (like phones, laptops, and TVs) send and receive messages through this post office. Now, just because the post office is open (meaning your devices are connected to the router), it doesn’t necessarily mean it can send or receive mail to and from the outside world.

The Internet connection is like the trucks that come and go from the post office to other places. If there are no trucks coming in or going out (meaning no Internet connection), then your post office can’t actually send or receive any mail beyond your home. Your devices can still “talk” to each other within the home, like sending files or printing, but they can’t access anything from the wider world like websites or online games.

or

Having a Wi-Fi connection to a router is like being connected to the switchboard inside your house. You can talk to other devices in your home, like your smartphone talking to a smart TV. But that doesn’t mean the switchboard is connected to the outside world.

The router has another job: it needs to connect to the internet, which is like connecting your home switchboard to the big phone network outside. If that connection is missing or not working, you won’t be able to browse the web, watch online videos, or do anything else that needs the internet, even if you’re still connected to the router via Wi-Fi.

So, Wi-Fi connection to the router is just the first step. The router itself also needs to be connected to the internet for you to do most of the things you want to do online.

The rooms at Schimpf Eck (at Lustnauer Tor 1) now all have network sockets!

The only thing left to connect you to the dorm’s fiber-optic network is to lay down the fiber-optic cables. We’ll figure out who’s doing it and how it’s done. In the meantime, there’s a wireless connection.

The construction work for a proper wireless operation should be finished in November. Until then, we have a temporary solution for you.

We are working on getting everything done in September, so you can have some internet by the time the semester starts.

According to yesterday’s diagnosis, it seems that a lightning strike damaged some chips on the switches in the basement.

We are currently setting up the configuration on the new switches.

Afterwards, we will install the switches in Provenceweg. This will cause a brief network outage, as we will have the cables in hand.

We won’t be able to respond to emails in the basement. If you have any questions about the duration, come visit us in the basement at number 9 (towards the center of the building).

Update 12:30 PM: Everything has been swapped out and upgraded from 100 Mbit/s to Gigabit. Feel free to run our speed test and let us know if something still isn’t working.

Surprisingly, construction work for Schimpf started last week. Each room, as usual in our dormitories, will have its own network connection with a double network socket, and one connection will be active.

We don’t consider a comprehensive alternative like WLAN networking, which is often desired, to be practical here. Those who have dealt with connecting hundreds of devices to Eduroam will understand why we are avoiding it.

In each room, you can set up your own secure and easy-to-configure WLAN with a simple router for around €35, allowing you to connect everything from a printer to a PlayStation.

The connection of the WG units in Schimpf Eck depends on the work at Pfleghof, whose starting date is still unknown to us. As surprises are possible, we prefer not to estimate when it will be ready. Getting new DSL contracts doesn’t seem sensible to us. We hope that the WG units will find a fair solution to redistribute the internet access costs or find a way to get rid of these contracts once the dormitory is stably connected to our network.

The final connection via fiber optic to our network is planned but not yet confirmed.