University dorm wi-fi setup

cerberusXX

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Nov 17, 2012
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10,510
Hello, I have an Option GlobeSurfer X.1 device that is supposed to turn my ethernet wall outlet in my dorm room into a wi-fi network.

This very same setup worked for me in the past, but my current uni is asking for the acceptance of an agreement everytime it diffuses an IP address via DHCP. What settings can I tweak in the router's admin page that will make it happen? School's IT dept. is quite uncooperative so any help is appreciated! thanks.
 
That is a strange device to choose to do this function. It will work but it is primarily a router that accepts cellular broadband modems.

Not much you can do to fix your problem unless you can prevent the IP from changing and I suspect they have the DHCP lease time set very low intentionally. You could manually set a fixed IP but I suspect that is against their rules and there may be a penalty for doing it.
There really is no way to get the router to accept a agreement automatically. They are intercepting a web page and routing it to their security device. The router has no concept of where web traffic is going. Even if it did the college security device is implemented as a man in the middle attack and the only reason you can tell they hijacked your web session is they were nice enough to tell you. Normally you cannot detect this type of device....in fact I suspect all your traffic passes though it after you confirm the agreement it just not intercept it anymore.
 

cerberusXX

Honorable
Nov 17, 2012
3
0
10,510


I will have to live with them intercepting my connection (which isnt that different from a regular ISP) but are you saying it won't make a difference if I go out and buy something just for this purpose? If I can manage to enter my credentials and click accept thru the device my problem will be solved..

I'm only using this cause it was whats available, instead of buying a new one. What would you recommend to get? This one doesn't have a port marked 'WAN' but has two LAN ports, though as I said it worked in the past in a different uni dorm.
 
The trick to solving this problem is turning a laptop/desktop into a client bridge, THEN bridging that to your wireless device.

IOW, you’d connect your laptop/desktop normally to the university network over wire. That solves the authentication problem. Now connect the wireless adapter to that same laptop/desktop (if it doesn’t support USB, you’ll obviously need a second wired network adapter). So now you have a wireless network. Only problem is the two networks (the school and your wireless AP) can’t talk to one another. So you enable ICS on the university network connection and share it w/ the wireless adapter’s network.