Tag: Reutlingen

2026-02-07 Post-processing Total failure

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

After yesterday’s outage, we are fixing some smaller problems.

We cannot clearly name the cause of the error yesterday. What is certain is that our batteries should buffer power outages for 30–45 minutes. Instead, they switched on and off many times per second for a very long time until they were exhausted after several hours.
Now the devices need to be replaced.

Without power, our hardware shut down at around 9 p.m., and our network went offline.

Until about 1 a.m. today, work was done on site to fix the problem, and in the end power was brought from another room into the server room.

Work started again at 9 a.m. today. We are setting everything up again and are looking for the cause of the loss of the connection to Reutlingen.

We may update this article if necessary.

Update 3 p.m.: Welcome back Reutlingen and Hechingerstraße!

2026-02-26 Complete Dormitory Network Outage

Tim on

At 9:30 PM, our entire network went down.

We are currently investigating the cause. As soon as we have more information, we will update this blog post.

Update:

As of approximately 00:15, everything should be back online. There may still be some issues, so please let us know via the contact form if you experience any problems.

2025-12-19 RT construction break over the holidays

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

In recent weeks, there have unfortunately been repeated power outages as part of the ongoing construction work at Pestalozzistraße 41. According to the current status, these should come to an end with the start of the construction break from the evening of December 23 until January 7 inclusive.

On 23 December, the workers will gradually finish their work from around 4 p.m. From 5 p.m. onwards, we therefore ask you to report any noticeable problems to us immediately, so that on 24 December we still have the opportunity to replace any hardware that may have been damaged or to reach someone from the Studierendenwerk.

After 24 December, neither we nor external companies can be reached between Christmas and New Year in order to arrange short-term repairs. If a network cabinet is without power during this period, this can only be fixed after the end of the construction break.

Power is an essential requirement for your internet access. Without power, our network technology on site cannot function.

2025-12-11 Construction Work in Reutlingen

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

We detected several outages today, including a longer one, at Pestalozzistraße 41 in our monitoring system.

While looking for the cause, we found out that there is intensive construction work going on in the building.

At the moment, all switches except one are online. The following rooms are connected to that switch:
Ground floor 8–12, 1st floor 117–121, 2nd floor 217–221, and 3rd floor 317–321.

We do not know whether these rooms are occupied during the renovation. If they are, please contact us immediately!

We will ask the Studierendenwerk what is going on.

Since all of our dormitories in Reutlingen are connected through this building, we hope that our hardware is not being damaged.

Update: A power line was cut and has now been repaired.

2025-12-07 Partwise outage of Pestalozzistr. 63

Jonas 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.

2025-11-2 Maintenance: Hardware Upgrade Pestalozzistraße 65

Tim 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 4:20 PM to 5:50 PM.

Update: We finished our work. If something is not working or you, contact us!

13-10-2025 Pestalozzistraße 63

Tim on

Unfortunately, a switch serving 24 rooms (rooms 101–125, pest63) has failed.

We are using this incident as an opportunity to upgrade your building to our new hardware, which will result in a brief outage for everyone living there.

However, this will not happen until tomorrow (October 14, 2025) at the earliest. As soon as we have a precise time for the hardware replacement, we will update this post.

Update 14/10/2025 7:50 am: This afternoon a quick fix will be done. In the next few days, we will upgrade to the latest MikroTik switches, so you will then have gigabit.

Update 14/10/2025 1:40 pm: Rooms are online again. Upgrade to gigabit will be probably on Sunday.

Update 21/10/2025 8:15 AM: Reboot of the building

Update 21/10/2025 22:54 PM.: Unfortunately, the quick fix broke down at around 8:00 a.m. today. In the evening, I set off to make sure that rooms 101-125 were back online. However, when I unplugged and plugged the master switch back in, it broke, which means that the whole house is now offline. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to fix it tonight, but I’ll take care of it tomorrow right after work. I’ll replace the hardware as mentioned above, and then the building should run smoothly for a good few years. So if everything goes according to plan, you’ll be back online tomorrow evening.

Update 22/10/2025, 9:41 PM.: I have replaced all switches, and the internet should be back up and running throughout Pestalozzistr. 63. While I am still making some best practice changes, there may still be brief outages. Thanks to the switch to new hardware, this dorm now has gigabit internet, which is 10 times faster—however, most of you are using old routers that can only handle 100 Mbit/s, so most of you won’t benefit from this.

2025-10-09 Reutlingen Pestalozzistr. 67

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

A switch that is serving 24 rooms died today.

Instead of replacing the switch we will upgrade the house to gigabit.

We will be there tonight.

Update

9:30 PM – We are done and everything should be working normally again. If there are any issues still, let us know via the contact form.

2025-03-21 big changes on core

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

On March 21, 2025, we will finally install our new MikroTik Cloud Core Router – CCR2216.
All important devices in our network have names. Our new core switch from MikroTik is called “Corey McRotik.”

As the central core switch, it connects all our network segments.

Many people don’t realize that we run a real, independent network.
All student dormitories in Geislingen an der Steige, Hohenheim, Nürtingen, Reutlingen, Albstadt, and Sigmaringen are connected to us in Tübingen and meet here at Fichtenweg 5.
(This is also why we cannot simply add dormitories that are connected via DSL, like those in Rottenburg, to our network.)

During the upgrade, all dormitories will go offline one or multiple times for a short period, depending on how we need to switch the fiber optic connections.

We chose Friday during the semester break to minimize disruptions for students and avoid interfering with the Studierendenwerk.

Our homepage is no longer hosted on a server at Fichtenweg—it is now hosted externally.
The main reason for this change was a series of power outages in our server room, which not only took all dormitories offline but also made our homepage unavailable.
We don’t expect frequent power outages, but with this change, we can provide more reliable updates in case of problems.

In short:

No need to worry, no emails, and please do not report the planned outage on Friday at 6:00 PM—we are aware of it.
We will be in the server room, literally holding cables in our hands.
We will update this message once we are finished.
If you still have problems after restarting at least one router, please contact us immediately via the contact form.
We will stay on-site for a few more hours to fix configuration issues or, if necessary, undo changes to keep the internet downtime as short as possible.

If you are interested in large networks, feel free to contact us (contact form: Mitmachen).
No prior knowledge is needed!
This year, we will replace switches in over 100 buildings—it’s manual work, so every helping hand is welcome.

If technology is not your strength, but you still want to help, we would really appreciate it.
As you can see from this not-so-perfect text, we could also use someone who can write better texts, design announcements, or simply organize tasks.

Right now, we are mainly active in Tübingen, but we already have one person in Hohenheim who recently joined to help on-site.
We really appreciate people outside of Tübingen because you can reach locations faster.

For example, you could help someone in a dorm with router issues, check if a construction crew accidentally cut a fiber optic cable, or look in the basement to see if a power outage is causing a network problem. All of this is much more difficult for our volunteer team in Netz-AK to handle from Tübingen.

6:16 pm update: after 4 minutes of downtime we finished. If anything is different for you, contact us!

2025 new to the dormitory?

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

First of all, it’s great that you’re here – welcome to the dormitory and our volunteer-managed network!

If you are new to the dormitory, you probably want to meet people. So, it’s a good idea to talk to your neighbours if you have a question.
They can answer questions about housing, shopping, or sports facilities and we can only help you with the access to the internet.

The internet in the dormitory is fast, and you don’t have to pay extra for it. (If someone has slow internet, it’s usually because they have a bad router.)

To go online via Wi-Fi, you need your own router. Almost everyone has one or shares Wi-Fi with the neighboring room.
If you already have a router, make sure to read our tutorial on Wi-Fi in the dorm room.
If you don’t have a router and want to buy one, I have written a blog post explaining how I would do it if I were in your situation.

If you ever have a problem or need help, don’t hesitate to contact us via the contact form.
Please always use this form so that we have all the information we need to help you quickly and efficiently.

Unfortunately, as a working group, we can only help you in German or English. Please use the language you are more comfortable with.
We understand that you might want to practice your German, but it is easier for us to help you in English if your English is better.

When you write to us, please don’t use AI.
Based on what and how you write, we can understand what you mean and how much you already know.
A “perfect” AI-generated message suggests to us that you know a lot – and you will then receive a response at that level.
If you want help from a human, write the message yourself!

Have fun and enjoy your time in the dormitory!

Your Netz-AK (short for Netzwerk Arbeitskreis = Network Work-group)