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Blog Highlights: Q & A

Q: Are students allowed to install their own wireless routers?

A: We do not allow students to install their own wireless routers. There are a couple reasons for this:

Security : A wireless router transmits a signal to a distance of about 300 feet. That means that any computer within a football field of that router can potentially connect to it. At Hope, this could mean 500 or more computers, and could include people not affiliated with the College (like those in nearby houses, businesses, or on the street). Because the router is connected to your port, all the traffic that goes through it is attributed to you. So even if someone else is doing something wrong, because they're using your router, it looks like it's coming from you. There are ways to help prevent others from connecting to your router, but they take some knowledge to setup.
Interference : Even if you setup the proper security on your router, there can still be issues with it interfering with other wireless routers. In the residence halls, each student is provided with an Ethernet port to plug in to. These were built into each building several years ago. However, many of the College's cottages and apartments do not have this wiring built in. Often, these are old houses where we either can't get into the walls to install wiring, or it's very expensive to do so. In these locations, wireless is installed, and is the only way for the students living there to connect. Because the College owns over 80 cottages and apartments, we can often have a dozen or more wireless routers installed in the space of one city block. Each must be carefully planned so that it doesn't interfere with the others. By installing a "personal" access point in a residence hall room or other location that's not a part of this plan, service is often interrupted or discontinued for students in these locations. That means that they can't connect to the Internet at all.

Q: I'll be studying _____ at Hope. What programs should I have installed on my computer?

A: If you're like most students, you'll be using your personal computer for things like writing papers and checking e-mail. The detailed software that's specific to your area of study will be provided on College lab computers. For example, if you take a physiology course, the software that's needed for that class is available on computers in the physiology classroom. In addition to being expensive, these discipline-specific packages often require special hardware or configurations that the average personal computer might not have. If you need to write a report for that classs or use online resources like our course management system or discussion boards, that's where most students use their personal computer.

Given that, you'll definitely want your personal computer to have Microsoft Office installed. Be sure to get the version that includes Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Also, don't forget to install Hope College's free antivirus software.

Of course, you shouldn't feel like you need to bring a computer with you to Hope. Even though over 90% of students do, we still have over 300 computers in labs, classrooms, and the Library that are available for student use. This includes a lab in every residence hall!

All valid cable TV connections will already be active when you arrive. So all you need to do is:

Plug in the power cord for your TV
Connect the cable jack on your TV to the cable jack on the wall (cables are available at the Hope-Geneva Bookstore)
Use the on-screen menus to set your TV's input to Cable (as opposed to Antenna)
Use the on-screen menus to Auto Scan or Auto Program channels
If you need assistance with getting hooked up, you can call 888-COMCAST (888-266-2278).

All Hope College cable is provided by Comcast, and has the same channels as residents in the City of Holland receive. The only optional channel is HBO, which can be ordered for a monthly fee by calling 888-COMCAST (888-266-2278).

Q: I've heard on the news about College students getting sued for downloading music and movies. Does this really happen? How can they do this? What can they do to you?

A: Yes, it really does happen. These lawsuits are filed by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) or MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) against a students for downloading or posting movies and music on the Internet. Hamilton College, a liberal arts school in New York that's similar to Hope in size, had a student sued last year for $15,000.

It's a common misconception that downloading music and movies on the Internet is okay, either because it doesn't hurt anyone, or because you won't get caught. Some people say it's like speeding in that "everyone does it." U.S copyright law states that
" Uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner's exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution." This means that unless you paid for the song or movie (using a service like iTunes or Napster), you probably broke the law. True, there are certainly some songs and videos on the Internet that are not protected by copyright, and are free to download. However, these items constitute a very small percentage of actual downloaded material.

Although Hope has yet to have a student sued like Hamilton, we do get dozens of "cease-and-desist" notices each semester. These are letters sent from lawyers on behalf of the RIAA and MPAA that essentially say, "Someone on your network is downloading material illegally. Make them stop or we will file a lawsuit." In every case so far, we've been able to contact the user and have the activity stopped before any charges are pressed. However, these organizations are not required to do this before suing, so there's no guarantee that everyone will get such a "warning."

So what's all this mean? It means that people are watching, so if you're downloading music or movies, you should be prepared for the consequences. Also keep in mind that copyright violation is a violation of Hope College policy, and can result in all your computer privileges being suspended. It would be hard to turn that assignment in online if you've had your network access revoked.

Wireless Ethernet is available in many locations around campus. To connect:

Install a wireless Ethernet card (available from the Hope-Geneva Bookstore). If you have a laptop, this capability may be built in to your computer.
Obtain Hope College's settings for the SSID and the network (encryption) key. These are available here (you'll need to enter your Hope College e-mail username and password).

Enter the SSID and encryption key data into the appropriate place on your computer. The exact procedure for doing so varies depending on what kind of wireless card you have, so you may need to consult the documentation that came with it for more details.
If you're in a Hope College cottage or apartment and are still not able to connect, check our Wireless Troubleshooting Steps for Cottages and Apartments.

Q: Why can't I send messages from my non-Hope e-mail accounts using Outlook (or similar programs)? I can receive messages just fine...

A: There's a two word answer to this: spam and viruses. Unfortunately, due to these things, most Internet service providers (Hope included) have had to make these changes to keep the system running.

When a computer gets "hacked" or infected with a virus, usually it's used to send out spam or to spread the virus. It tries to do this via e-mail. If these messages make it to the rest of the world, Hope College is labeled a "spammer" or "virus sender" and systems start blocking mail from our users. The way to prevent this from happening is to setup a mail server that checks each message for viruses and spam before it leaves campus. As long as every e-mail leaving campus goes through this server, Hope College won't send out bad things, and won't be blocked. So in order to make sure that everything leaving campus is clean, most ISP's like Hope restrict what machines can be used to send e-mail.

So what's the answer if you want to use a non-Hope e-mail account? The options vary based on whether or not you have a Hope e-mail account:

If you don't have a Hope e-mail account (or even if you do): Many e-mail systems have a web-based interface where you use Internet Explorer or another browser (as opposed to Outlook) to check messages. These are not affected by the virus/spam problem, as these messages don't look like they're coming from Hope.

If you have a Hope e-mail account: You can set the "Outgoing Mail Server" in your e-mail program to"webmail.hope.edu", which forces your sent messages through our server. In order to do this, you'll need to authenticate to this server, which means that you'll have to enter your Hope e-mail address and password into the settings of your e-mail program. This lets our server know that you're a Hope person, and not just anyone in the world. Because each e-mail program (Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc.) has a little different way for setting this up, you'll need to consult the program's documentation to find the exact procedure.

Where do I buy.....?

In the past, CIT has sold wireless Ethernet cards and Ethernet cables at our office. Starting this summer, these items will be available at the Hope-Geneva Bookstore instead. Not only does this provide a "one stop shopping" experience, but it also allows you to pay for these items with a credit card or with financial aid money (if applicable).

If you plan on buying these items before you arrive on campus, here's a couple pointers:

Be sure that you're buying an Ethernet cable, not a phone cable. They look very similar, but the Ethernet cable has larger plugs on the end. Look for one that says "Category 5" or "CAT5" ("Category 5E" will work as well).
A 25' Ethernet cable will reach almost any desk in any residence hall room. Although a shorter cable may work this year, next year you might need a longer one. If you buy a 25' cable, you can always tie up the excess, then know that you can use the same cable next year.
Hope's wireless network uses something called the "802.11b" protocol. Be sure that any wireless adapter that you buy supports this.
Some wireless adapters tend to work better than others. We've found that Netgear devices work well for most systems. Plus they tend to be reasonably priced.

For more information and recommendations, visit our New Students website.

Q: I'll be bringing a computer to Hope. How do I get it connected to the Internet in my residence hall room? Do I need to sign up for anything?

A: For most computers made in the last several years, you should be able to just unbox the system, connect an Ethernet cable (available from the Bookstore) from the back of your computer to one of the Ethernet ports in your room, open Internet Explorer, and just like that, Internet! There's nothing to sign up for; everything is already turned on. If your computer has already connected to the Internet at home using a cable modem or DSL, you may need to reconfigure or uninstall the software that was needed by that service. There's no special software needed to connect at Hope.

Note that wireless is not currently available in the residence halls, and installing personal wireless routers is not allowed (see the post below from 8/3/2005 for more details)

Once you're connected, the very first things that you should do are install Hope College's free antivirus software, download all the Windows Updates that are available, and turn off "File and Printer Sharing". Do these before you even check your e-mail or download that favorite program.

Q: Does Hope offer any free or discounted software to students?

A: Outside of free antivirus software for Windows users, we don't have any commercial software that's available for no charge. Although some schools offer other "free" software, the reality is that they pay huge sums of money annually for a license that allows use by anyone on campus. Of course, this money has to come from somewhere, so part of your tuition is paying for it. Because you may already have these programs and they don't need to be renewed every year (like antivirus software), at Hope it just doesn't make sense to charge everyone for them.

The Hope-Geneva Bookstore does offer student discounting on a number of popular packages, including Microsoft Office. Usually, their prices will be far below the normal retail amount that you'll pay at a computer or electronics store.

Q: Are students allowed to install their own wireless routers?

A: We do not allow students to install their own wireless routers. There are a couple reasons for this: