Public internet slow? (read details)?

Question

I just started back at college and noticed the internet (public, usecure) is REALLY slow - like speakeasy.net says I'm getting 70-120Kbps speed most times (although occationally peaking up to 3Mbps) and it takes forever to load pages - like 2 minutes to get CNN.

I know it's not my computer (like a virus/temp files) because at home I have a 1.5Mbps cable connection (wifi) and it loads the same pages in a couple seconds.

It wasn't that bad last semester and the helpdesk says it's just because there's record enrollment and lots of people on at once...I understand that there is only so much bandwidth to share but is there anything I can do to improove my speed at college - maybe a way to make the system give me a slightly larger cut?

Answer 1

That's the system you have.  If you "do something", you're hacking into the network which can not only get you expelled, it's a federal crime (and get get you free passage to the southern part of Cuba).  Your only option is to buy internet service from the local phone or cable TV company, or use a cellular modem to get your service from the cellular network (or via satellite, but that's a bit expensive).

I'd say that, if it's a large college, they're doing pretty well to maintain even 70kbps/student - multiply that by the number of students and divide by 10.  That's about the bandwidth they're paying for.

Answer 2

There is nothing you can do about this. If they are using an unsecured system they must be mad. Outside users can be swamping their bandwidth, and it makes everybody's transmissions visible to anyone nearby with a wireless machine. This means any clear text user names, passwords, emails or sites visited (including banking addresses) become public.