Huzzah! We finally got our real internet working today! I’ve been suffering by on an unencrypted wireless connection for the past couple days. Between low signal strength and unreliable uplink connectivity, its been a pretty aggravating experience.

We’ve signed up with Bell for a plan that, according to my roommate, has unlimited bandwidth. Unfortunately I only seem to get about 2Mbps, but I figure ∞ bandwidth at 2Mbps is better than 8Mbps capped at 60GB, especially since I’ve gone well over 60GB recently.

I don’t know what the installation guy was thinking (or my roommate for that matter), but he set it up so that the modem has to connect to the phone jack in this guy’s room. So basically, if we ever have to fix the internet while he’s not here, we’re SOL. What makes this even more aggravating is that the modem comes with a built-in router and four-port switch. This means that had it been installed in the home-run room in the basement, we would have been able to plug in all four rooms to the single modem device, provided by Bell, and been done with it.

Instead we had to finagle the following solution. I purchased a GigE network switch. This kid’s room’s line is connect to one port, and the other three bedrooms are connected to other ports on the switch while this guy plugs his computer directly into a second port on the modem. So far, so good; I show a full 100Mbps connection to the modem (my computer only has 100Mbps, and I doubt the modem sports GigE).