on On Wednesday, March 11, 2026, we will replace the old switches with new ones at Fichtenweg 3. This may cause brief internet outages in the building or on individual floors.
We will start at around 3 PM in the basement and work our way up through the floors.
Feel free to approach us if you see us.
Update:
We have finished the replacement in your building.
If you have a gigabit-enabled device, you should be able to use 1 gigabit synchronously.
on Today, during the course of the evening, we will replace the old switches in Hechinger Straße 14. There will be an internet outage of around one hour.
Update: The new switch is purring along. Unfortunately, upgrading the uplink of your dorm to 10 Gbit/s failed on the first try. We are investigating the error cause.
on This year, we had the opportunity to attend Europe’s largest hacker congress—the 39C3, the 39th Chaos Communication Congress. It is a four-day event organized by the Chaos Computer Club, held annually and now once again at the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH).
Here are three good reasons to attend the C3:
(1) Talks
A core element of the Congress—and probably the main reason for its public visibility. In the past, talks that made it into major media outlets included “We Know Where Your Car Is” (location histories of all recent Volkswagen vehicles, including those of government and intelligence employees, freely accessible on the internet), “The Electronic Patient Record Is Coming – Now for Everyone!” (severe security issues in the implementation of the largest digitization project in the German healthcare system), or “Operation Triangulation” (in which security experts from Kaspersky presented a zero-click attack on Apple mobile devices they had discovered).
Talks run throughout the entire Congress in four large halls. With more than 16,000 attendees this year, there was no shortage of content—and the limited time automatically ensures that only the most interesting submissions make it into the available slots. I personally watched, for example, “Excuse me, what precise time is it?”, in which the speaker presented and live-demonstrated various methods of microsecond-accurate network time synchronization. And of course, the “Security Nightmares” were a must again this year.
(2) Networking with other assemblies, meeting familiar faces again
Tables are set up all over the exhibition grounds—these tables belong to so-called “assemblies,” i.e., groups or associations. The C3-Nav gives a good impression of the venue—and the sheer number of groups present. When you’re not attending a talk, walking through the halls, or eating, these tables are typically the go-to place to retreat to. We were kindly hosted by the Chaostreff Tübingen—many thanks for that!
Right next to us, Selfnet e.V. from Stuttgart had their tables—the operator of the student dormitory network for Stuttgart, Esslingen, and Ludwigsburg. Two experienced members spontaneously took the time to give me a virtual tour of their dormitory network, and we talked about topics such as switch selection, Wi-Fi access points, redundancy, automation, and routing. I definitely took away a few new ideas—on the never-ending journey of continuously improving our own dormitory network.
At least two of our members also unexpectedly ran into other acquaintances—the (IT) world really is smaller than you think.
(3) Booths, hands-on events, venue, music
As can be seen on the aforementioned C3-Nav, the CCH is truly huge—and every room has its own design and music. The decoration team once again went all out and created something impressive. Many assembly tables are also used as booths, and there are small events and “self-organized sessions” you can take part in. In one of these sessions, for example, you could learn SMD soldering.
Unfortunately, there are only a few photos of the Congress—mainly because of the strict policy that you may not take photos unless you have explicitly asked every single person in the picture. This is meant to ensure a relaxed and low-pressure experience for everyone. Still, you can get a visual impression here, here, here, and here.
Many of the talks were recorded—if this blog post has sparked your interest, you’ll find plenty of content on media.ccc.de and on the YouTube channel.
Attending the 39C3 was a fantastic experience and definitely worth repeating. Thank you very much for the opportunity!
on The general members’ meeting for the 2025 association year will take place on January 6, 2026.
Originally, a date in December was planned, but unfortunately there was not enough time at the end of the year.
A regular general members’ meeting is required by association law. Certain deadlines and formal requirements must be met, regardless of how full the calendar is at the end of the year. For this reason, the meeting will now be held at the beginning of January.
To avoid this situation in the future, we will probably move the general members’ meeting to the summer.
2025 is a special year for the association.
It is the first year in which we have concluded the contract with the Studierendenwerk for operating the network. This means that a long-open issue has now also been formally clarified and placed on a stable basis.
I am also pleased that I was able to invite 18 people to this year’s general members’ meeting.
Since the founding of the association, the number of members has therefore doubled.
It is increasingly noticeable that structure and activity in the association are slowly gaining momentum. Tasks are being distributed better, processes are becoming clearer, and engagement is growing steadily.
on Due to an oversight on my part, I have unfortunately taken Pestalozzistr. 63 partially offline. I apologize for this. I will take care of getting you back online today.
Update: Pestalozzistr. is back online.
on Our monitoring solutions indicate that it can no longer reach our switches in Eugenstr. The reason for this is not entirely clear; it could be due to a switch that has died of old age or to some kind of problem with the uplink.
We will take care of it today.
Update: Eugenstr. is back online – if problems are still appearant, please contact us.
on Hello everyone,
During the course of the evening, we will be replacing switches at Fruwirthstr. 3, 7, and 9, which will cause the internet to be down for approximately one hour at each location.
We will let you know as soon as we are done – everything should be working again by tomorrow morning at the latest!
Update 9:42 p.m.: Fruwirthstr. 3 has already been completed—if you encounter any problems, please report them as soon as possible!
Update 00:28: Fruwirthstr. 7&9 have also been swapped—and we’re back in Tübingen.
So you should all have internet again – and new switches that will last a long time. 🙂
on On Sunday, November 2, 2025, starting at 8:15 PM, we will replace your network hardware with new equipment. This upgrade will provide you with Gigabit synchronous connectivity directly to your room.
The hardware replacement is expected to take approximately 2 hours, from 8:15 PM to 10:15 PM.
Update: We finished our work. If something is not working or you, contact us!
on On Sunday, November 2, 2025, starting at 4:00 PM, we will replace your network hardware with new equipment. This upgrade will provide you with Gigabit synchronous connectivity directly to your room.
The hardware replacement is expected to take approximately 1.5 hours, from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM.
Update: We finished our work. If something is not working or you, contact us!
on Around 12:10, one of the two switches at Fichtenweg 1 failed, causing most of the rooms to currently have no internet connection.
We are on our way to replace the switch.
Update: since 1:27 pm the house is online again. The priority to upgrade this house has been increased.
