Having a Switch at uni?

Mason-

Mason-

Mason-

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In my uni accommodation you are given one Ethernet port to connect your computer up to.

However I've got an xbox 360 as well as my laptop, and constantly having to swap ethernet cables is a pain.

Would the network have any problem with me using a switch. It's just that to use the university network, you had to do one of two things

A) Log on to the network (did this with laptop) by entering your uni ID and password

or

B) Register the MAC address of the device (what I had to do with my xbox) with the uni.

Now surely when a switch is giving/receiving data and requesting it from the university, the university will see the MAC address of the switch and not the xbox/laptop?

I am not familiar with how switches work though so I could be completely wrong, I may have to register the MAC address of the switch (if that's possible) with the university and then it should work.

So can anyone recommend a switch that would work? (if at all)

I'm at home for the weekend so can't provide anymore information atm, but am going back this evening.

Thanks.

EDIT:

Another thought, I have a spare router, what if I took that down, then I could use wifi on my phone/iPod too without having to use Mobile Internet so I can update my apps etc.

Is there anyway you can connect a router up to it too, but not only having a switch for wired, but a switch for wireless too.
 
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A switch would not show up on the universities network, instead the university would see all of your devices connected at the same time. A router on the other hand would work, you could register the MAC address of the WAN port on your router and use that, that way to the Uni it would seem like there is only 1 device connected, regardless of how many devices are actually connected to the router.
 
The uni will see all MAC addresses connected to a perticular switch port.

As above, if you add a device on that end capable of NAT, they'll only be able to see the MAC address of the router.
 
If you wanna be under a guise, use a router and configure NAT

If your uni allows multiple devices through 1 switch port (which it sounds unlikely if you had to register your MAC's with them) then switch
 
I have a friend that is in exactly the same position as you. I advised him not to use a switch because I know university's limit the connection to one MAC address.

I did not realise though that a router can be used!

Very helpful thread, thanks :D
 
Depends on your Uni, but I know they weren't particularly fond of people using routers when I asked last year. Basically it was a if you get caught we'll disconnect you :S

kd
 
I just used to use a router with the MAC of my macbook spoofed to the WAN port. Faultless and meant I didn't need a cable trailing anywhere when I was too hungover to get out of bed.
 
You never know, they might have port security set to one sticky MAC address, meaning the port may automatically shut down when you plug a second device in. :p.
 
King Damager said:
Depends on your Uni, but I know they weren't particularly fond of people using routers when I asked last year. Basically it was a if you get caught we'll disconnect you :S

kd
Click to expand...

A router can be dangerous if plugged into an active network, especially if it starts throwing out DHCP and the ports have been configured incorrectly.


Roady said:
It might sound weird, but how about asking them? :D
Click to expand...
Because they will say no, lol.
 
dLockers said:
A router can be dangerous if plugged into an active network, especially if it starts throwing out DHCP and the ports have been configured incorrectly.



Because they will say no, lol.
Click to expand...

I doubt the switches are setup to allow DHCP advertisements to flow from the student ports.
 
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dLockers said:
A router can be dangerous if plugged into an active network, especially if it starts throwing out DHCP and the ports have been configured incorrectly.
Click to expand...

Does any home router even act as a DHCP server on the WAN port? Most likely it'll act as a DHCP client and receive an IP (just like it does when connecting to a real ISP), which is no different from a end device connecting directly to the uni network and acting as a DHCP client.
 
Dist said:
Does any home router even act as a DHCP server on the WAN port? Most likely it'll act as a DHCP client and receive an IP (just like it does when connecting to a real ISP), which is no different from a end device connecting directly to the uni network and acting as a DHCP client.
Click to expand...

When people connect routers, a lot of the times they use ADSL routers, and by default plug into the switch port rather than the WAN port.

Had this a lot of times at my previous job.
 
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