Cisco Thing in my room...

[JammyJim]

http://users.aber.ac.uk/jat2/desktop/

(sorry for some reason my webspace wont allow direct linkage)

image280.jpg -> image284.jpg are the things in question



ive googled and i think this is a rather expensive Aironet Cisco wireless jobby.

however its in my bedroom...not an office...and i sleep no more than 6 ft away from it....



whats the scientific view on whether ill die of

a) brain cancer
b) a fit

or

will i become impotent....


:-((((

[IncubusGod]

I would be worried with that honking great em radiation emitting industrial looking monstrostiy in my room...perhaps you should raise some questions with the appropriate authorities?

Better yet, steal the thing and sell it on eBay.

[CjC]

If its an industrial strength wireless box surely for long distance type wireless efforts you'd need an external arial with a whacking great amplifier on it to be dangerous to health?


I could be wrong.....

[NEWSBOT3]

jammyjim's going to die!

[roadrunner_0]

just go and sleep in kates (?) room
surely a win/win situation?

[JammyJim]

Originally Posted by CjC

If its an industrial strength wireless box surely for long distance type wireless efforts you'd need an external arial with a whacking great amplifier on it to be dangerous to health?


I could be wrong.....

erm

look at the images. this is precisely what youve described....

i have a box attached to the wall and a giant aerial....




oh and kates room is tiny,. i mean postage sized. Plus i have an absolutely kick ass view..
im second floor and have nothing between me and the sea except a road that i cant see unless i go right upto the window and the beach...


'bullseye'


(its also why i dont think im going to complain about the wireless thing..) i just wanted to know if id become impotent ...

[Rumad]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

i just wanted to know if id become impotent ...

Probably. If not you may get some sort of radiation disease.

I hope the view is worth it.

[JammyJim]

it doesnt say 'radiation' on it.....

it just has 'you might die if you play with the electrics in this'

plus

i could sue the uni

i not be able to have children through 'normal means' but ill be rich and live on the moon in a private fortress built with the billions id get (obviously)

[Rumad]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

it doesnt say 'radiation' on it.....

it just has 'you might die if you play with the electrics in this'

plus

i could sue the uni

i not be able to have children through 'normal means' but ill be rich and live on the moon in a private fortress built with the billions id get (obviously)

Or you could end up disfigured with your claim tied up legal beaureacracy as you slowly die in your one manned caravan in some gyppo site in the uk or us.

But then again you will have those memories of that view. No compensation for being a jaffa negative gaffer though.

[IncubusGod]

Maybe not impotent but sterile. Might save on the contraception bill.

[JammyJim]

ive had a quick google and apparently WLAN's are no more dangerous than radio waves etc

however

none of these people have industrial strength trasmitters which are transmitting over large areas..

i could just unplug it


(say i didnt know what it was and it was taking up a plug socket ho ho ho)

[Stew]

Why the fk is this thing in *your* room anyway?

[Rumad]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

ive had a quick google and apparently WLAN's are no more dangerous than radio waves etc

however

none of these people have industrial strength trasmitters which are transmitting over large areas..

The scientific research into radio waves and there effects on human beings is a very recent research trend.

In 20 years time when they decide there are proven links you might have regretted your actions.

unplug it and tell the uni they need to relocate it.

[JammyJim]

i might phone up and ask because i checked the website and theres no mention of my room being a 'wireless hotspot'

...

[Rumad]

its always better to be safe than sorry.

Your children will thank you in 30 years time.

[JammyJim]

ive fired off an email asking


a) what its being used for
b) whether its safe


once i get those replies ill email them asking if they can move it. im paying 65 quid a week for this room and the more i look at it and the more people i talk to about it the less i like the idea of being turned into a mutant while i sleep...

[roadrunner_0]

oh, did you just say that it was plugged in in your room? if so are you actually paying for the electricity or not?

[JammyJim]

electricity is included in the price.

i run everything 24/7 to make sure i get full value for money out of it so technically im not paying for it.


i think its a directional aerial so it only sends/recieves in the direction its pointed at...my room could simply be a relay point....however its still in my room.

[Sardaukar]

ewwwwwwwwwww you live down that end of the beach :P


*john williams' it up*

[skiddy]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

electricity is included in the price.

i run everything 24/7 to make sure i get full value for money out of it so technically im not paying for it.


i think its a directional aerial so it only sends/recieves in the direction its pointed at...my room could simply be a relay point....however its still in my room.

That is exactly what it is, an omnidirectional wireless antenna.

They do only transmit in one direction, however reception is picked up much like Sky is - not directed at specific dish's, but broadcast.

Other than being quite ugly, they're pretty much harmless. Although slightly more powerful than standard wireless access points, they simply achieve their aim by pointing the data wave in the right direction.

[mist]

wifi is allowed pathetic amounts of power. even given the gain on that aerial you'd probably get further worrying about the mobile phone mast that you'll probably find on top of your building.

ugly tho :/
-mist

[BesigedB]

It's just begging to have some "modifications" done.

[JetLinus]

Defenitely!
Plug your comp in it and hack the campus, no?

But be careful not to be referred to as "the geek with that massive alien-tech-thingy in his room".


Actually, I find this quite funny. It looks SO big and dangerous or strange that it almost seems irreal. Have you known about this before? Or was it more like "hey, this is your room, here're the keys, I gotta go, bye"?

Maybe something like "there's a normal boring room or one with a surprise, but I ain't telling you what it is -- your choice". And you couldn't resist.


Does it make strange noises? Like real high-pitched sirring? Don't the blinkenlights (tm) disturb you?

[JetLinus]

HEY, I can defenitely see it here: There's a free rj45-jack. Just mentioning it. No further thoughts in my mind. Obviously.




Ever wanted to be able to use the incredible power of super-duber-mega-hyper-techno-net router capacities? There you go





Or plug a router/hub inbetween the existing cable? But do it at night, better chances not everybody will notice the short offtime at once.
PHYSICAL access to those internal sources are the best, I bet.

[Tactitus]

Hehe, the Information Superhighway runs through JJ's bedroom.

I'm going to be sick.

[JammyJim]

i already tried plugging the pc in.

the port isnt active and presumably switched off. it also has 'console' written above the terminal.



i did think about randomly just turning it off and back on
to see if anyone noticed...

or setting up my pc as a router and plugging the giant wireless thing into my second network card...then installing some software to watch whats going on...

[djbass]

From what I can tell it's mostly harmless (though much of that equipment is intended for outdoor use). The Antenna looks like a 13.5Db Yagi style (which means it transmits/recieves in one direction, omnidirectional would mean it transmits/recieves in all directions).

The specs for wireless networking are well and truely under safe limits for radiation.

The box on the wall with the rj45 port is not a switch but rather a bridge designed to allow network traffic to be transmitted over coax cable long distance, it does little more than convert the signals between the two cable types.

I would be asking though why the **** they've installed it in a dorm room of all places heh.

Also that picture of the warning message is referring to high voltage power lines as all wireless equipment can potentially induct power from the power lines into the equipment resulting in a very nasty shock.

[Radical Edward]

surround it with wire mesh. this should stop the radiation leaking out. can you take another photo to try and give more of an impression of scale? say put a 10p piece in the picture or a book or something.

[meglamaniac]

The word people are slithering about looking for and not quite managing to find is Unidirectional.

Anyway.
Dude.

You could have SO much fun with that, and better still you could do it without being detected (except for a breif shutdown while you made the swap).

Step 1: install two network cards in your PC
Step 2: set up a bridge between them (XP does this in software) or use the Internet Connection Sharing Wizard if you must
Step 3: Buy an extra Cat5e cable
Step 4: Shut down the Cisco kit
Step 5: Unplug the cable running to the hall switch/router, and plug in into the network card designated for "LAN" in your PC
Step 6: Run the extra cable from the RJ45 socket on the Cisco kit that was connected to the hall switch/router and plug the other end into the network card designated for "WAN" (or Internet) in your PC
Step 7: Restart the Cisco kit
Step 8: Profit

You now:
* Control the entire internet connectivity for your hall
* Have the highest priority on some rather impressive bandwidth
* Can install some packet sniffing software and start nicking passwords etc if you feel so inclined (obviously I think such action is totally unethical and should be frowned upon)

EvilMasterPlan++

[IncubusGod]

OR your room could be "burgled" and that Cisco kit could end up being sold for some nice money.

[JammyJim]

its worth in total about a grand

i did a check on various websites and worked out what everything was (slowly)....

Megla : my pc is already set up with my second network card bridged to the first (its how i shared my intenret connection with kates pc last year in my room ho ho) so infact it would a very quick cable swapping exercise.




heres a few more photos

1
2
3
Better view of the thing


with a 2 pence piece to show you the size of it.

[Rumad]

rebot it with yu installed on it and se what happens

[meglamaniac]

It's a bit off that they just shove you in a room with it without letting you know.
I mean, its not exactly pretty for starters.

[IncubusGod]

It looks like some futuristic phallic object. Maybe it will violate you at night when your sleeping.

[Rumad]

Originally Posted by IncubusGod

It looks like some futuristic phallic object. Maybe it will violate you at night when your sleeping.

This should have been a preceeding part to i-robot and would explain Will Smith's hatred of them better.

[JammyJim]

the network assigns us things based on bandwidth....
i have a mac cloning piece of software called 'smac'

the units Mac address is written on a little sticker...
i could in theory take it offline


completely
and my pc would look for all intents and purpsoes like the wireless things
hohoho

[meglamaniac]

You know, given Aber's reputation as a CompSci uni, I'm surprised they're daft enough to leave equipment like that where some rather computer literate students with no morals are able to get at it.

If it ever emerged you'd had access to the data running through it then there'd be serious trouble. Ok we're not quite as ready to sue as the American's, but think of all the net banking passwords and stuff going through there. And part of the linux dsniff package generally includes a utility that catches MSNM conversations, dumps them to the screen, and then relays them (so the participants are unaware). Similar tools exist for YIM, AIM...

It seems like a massive security oversight to assume it won't get played with.

[IncubusGod]

Originally Posted by meglamaniac

And part of the linux dsniff package generally includes a utility that catches MSNM conversations, dumps them to the screen, and then relays them (so the participants are unaware). Similar tools exist for YIM, AIM....

I DEMAND you do this and then start messing with people.

[roadrunner_0]

can you imagine being able to **** with peoples heads like that? hehehehe

[CjC]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

its worth in total about a grand

i did a check on various websites and worked out what everything was (slowly)....

Megla : my pc is already set up with my second network card bridged to the first (its how i shared my intenret connection with kates pc last year in my room ho ho) so infact it would a very quick cable swapping exercise.




heres a few more photos

1
2
3
Better view of the thing


with a 2 pence piece to show you the size of it.

When I said "Whacking Great Arial" I was thinking bigger.

BIGGER.

Still, pretty damn ugly to be in your personal living space I must admit.

Seeing as its in your room - why not Hijack the net connections

[Quazi Starbucks]

Install Ethercap and get some popcorn

[roadrunner_0]

sell it, seriously, everyone knows that students are prime burglary targets anyway, so insure your room and get someone to do it over while you are out one night and split the profits

[JammyJim]

You wrote to <advisory>:
>
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> In my room is a large Cisco transmitter connected to, presumably, a
cisco > router which is then in turn connected to the JaNet terminal at
the wall.
>
> I am writing to find out whether this piece of equipment is perfectly safe
> (i sleep in this room) and whether it is currently being used.
>
> I have checked the aberystwyth computer services and have found no
> information regarding a wireless 'hotspot' being near me.
>
> Obviously i have certain health concerns when sleeping in a room with a
> rather powerful transmitter no more than 6 feet away from me.

James -Thanks for the email, which has been passed to me to reply to. It
is sensible to make sure with things like this!

The Cisco unit is in use, though as a link to the next building to support
their bedroom connections rather than as a wireless base station for Hot
Spot use radiating in all directions. It is quite safe; even at the front
where the power is concentrated it is radiating about 20 milliwatts, far
less than a mobile phone, so elsewhere in the room any radiation would be
much less again.

Hope this helps and that you will get back to me if you have any more
concerns.


Jeremy Perkins

[Inferno]

How can you live in a place with that ... thing in your room.

You own the flat, dismantle the thing and sell it on ebay. Just use the excuse that you are currently the owner of the flat so therefore you have full rights to everything in it. I think there is some law about this.

[JammyJim]

byut i dont have full rights....

i dont own it as such.

i rent it out.....

[Inferno]

Duh! Silly me.

[Knight Theamion]

Go With The Evil Masterplan Fs

[djbass]

yes but he probably now is he's far more likely to get busted as they are aware that he is aware of the device.

[Zword]

Uhh maybe a stupid question but why is it in you bedroom. Can't you move it to you neighbours bedroom