Can using a router lead to internet connection crash for whole floor?

[akc]

Hi

So i've moved into this dorm, for my study exchange, and they said we're not allowed to use routers or hotspots as they can crash the entire floor's connection.

Now, i've done computer science in my first years of uni, but i have no idea, in technical terms, why would using the router affect the connection of others. Is this a valid concers on are the guys in the dorm just plain idiots when it comes to IT?
As i really want to use my router so as not to have to sit behind the bloody desk all day.
Cheers

Akc

 

[beers]

Probably worried about some jackass plugging in the LAN portion to the wall and offering DHCP addresses to everyone on the same VLAN. That being said they should really implement DHCP Snooping.

There's also a concern on the wireless side, especially with the 2.4 GHz band as the router's traffic would impact wireless connectivity for other students too just based on interference.

 

[akc]

Probably worried about some jackass plugging in the LAN portion to the wall and offering DHCP addresses to everyone on the same VLAN. That being said they should really implement DHCP Snooping.

There's also a concern on the wireless side, especially with the 2.4 GHz band as the router's traffic would impact wireless connectivity for other students too just based on interference.

Could be. Although in terms of the wireless side, trafic would not substantially increase, (same trafic as now from my LAN connected laptop and hotspot connected phone) and as far as i know, many are not using their routers anyways, only set hotspots on laptops for their phones to have wifi. That being said, i d assume a hotspot from a laptop should be pretty much same as router, right?

 

[beers]

CSMA/CA would be a good topic to research

A lot of people will sit down 2.4 GHz wireless devices outside of the non-overlapping channels (1,6,11) causing interference to two of those channels for any traffic transmitted. Even if it's not substantially a lot you still will see a large decrease in performance (and increase in backoff timers) on those neighboring networks for that airspace.

If I was their IT staff I'd classify those as rogues and issue an automatic containment policy, it's kind of pointless to use cellular data -> hotspot when they already have a wireless network in place.

 

[Geoff]

Sounds like it's the IT departments way of making it clear to students that plugging in your own wireless router would cause wireless interference, and making the wireless network less reliable.

That said, as someone who works at a university, do not bring in your own wireless router if they provide wireless access. A LOT of work goes into channel planning and AP placement, so when multiple consumer routers show up on overlapping channels it's causes problems.