You are here

Using a Switch in Residence Halls

Wireless routers are NOT allowed in residence halls.

The use of mobile hotspots is also strongly discouraged

The ability to share your cellular data plan with your laptop or other devices can possibly work great for you, but will cause immediate interference for other residents. It is also important to remember that others around you may connect to your cell phone and use your data bandwidth, which may end up costing you overage fees.


UL Lafayette residence-hall rooms are equipped with at least one wired (Ethernet) network port per student with one exception, the Conference Center, which has no wired ports. UL Lafayette has also provided a supplementary wireless network, UL-WiFi, to allow residence hall students the convenience of mobile internet service while in their dorm rooms and adjacent common areas.  UL-WiFi is available in all residence halls and commons areas within the buildings. 


Students are increasingly bringing multiple devices to campus, which need to be connected to the wired UL Lafayette network. To accommodate these devices, the Office of Information Technology has approved the use of personal network switches in student rooms. These switches must not have wireless capability (i.e. Apple Airports are not allowed) because wireless devices disrupt UL-WiFi and can even have negative impacts on the wired network.

The following guidelines are provided to help you select the right switch:

  1. Must not have wireless capability
  2. Must not have "router" in the product description
  3. Must not have NAT, or other firewall-type technologies.
  4. The switch must be connected to the data port in the student’s room. 

If an installation does cause problems with the dorm network, the student will be contacted by OIT and provided information of the disruption. Additionally, the data port will be disabled until the student can resolve the problem.

The switches listed here are not exclusive and additional switches may be used.

TP-LINK, 5-port Gigabit Desktop Switch (Model No. TL-SG1005D

• Best Buy (online)
• Wal-Mart (online)
• Tiger Direct (online)

ASUS Gigabit Switch (Model No. GX-D1051)

• Office Depot (online)
• B&H Photo (online)
• Tiger Direct (online)

People: