I hit the VT Upload Cap!
August 24th, 2008Virginia Tech has an upload cap of 650MB per day. If you exceed the limit, you get slower internet for a day. I’m posting the email, because it is the most-informative source of information about VT’s network policy that I have found. (Bits that I find particularly useful to know will be in bold, and information that I don’t want publicized will be replaced with something in brackets.)
The following notice is addressed to
[my name, my roommate's name, our dorm, and room number]
A computer in your room using IP address 198.82.96.147 and connected to the Ethernet outlet identified as [our room number]TP02B has sent more than 650MB of information into the network during the past 24 hours. As a result, the network capacity available to this computer has been restricted. To determine if this is your IP address, connect to http://www.software.ais.vt.edu/yourip/yourip.php while connected to the outlet in your room.
Outbound traffic from your (or your roommate’s) computer must remain below 650MB for a 24-hour period for these limits to be reduced or removed.
This action has been taken since network services are a shared resource, critical to the university’s mission. In instances where individuals consume an excessive amount of network resources, they are in conflict with Virginia Tech’s Acceptable Use Guidelines. More information is available at: http://www.cns.vt.edu/html/data/bandwidth.html.
The most common reason for this occurrence is computers serving peer-to-peer (p2p) or file-sharing applications, such as Morpheus, KaZaA, Gnutella or Limewire. In addition to generating a large volume of network traffic, these programs potentially put you in the position of illegally distributing copyrighted music, movies or software. For instructions on deleting a program of this type, please read Virginia Tech 4Help Knowledge Base article http://www.answers.vt.edu/ask4help/thirdparty/vtkb1386.htm
The second most common reason is your computer has been infected with a virus or trojan. Follow all 4 steps under the "CLEAN IT UP" section at http://antivirus.vt.edu to clean up your computer.
The next most common reasons are on-line game playing and video/audio chatting.
You may engage in any legal activity but your connection speed will be limited if more than 650MB of information a day is uploaded.
REMEMBER, unauthorized sharing of copyrighted files MUST BE immediately eliminated.
If you require technical assistance with removing the file-sharing client or removing a virus, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you contact the Virginia Tech Computing Consultants at 4Help (540/231-4357 or http://4help.vt.edu/).
It is still unclear to me if the upload limit is per port (and thus per person), or per room. The evidence suggests that the limit is per room.
VT Internet: Awesome
August 20th, 2008
speaks for itself.
Edit August 21 at 8:26am:
I tried again, and got even better results.
Internet on the road for "free" with a Razr
January 24th, 2008On long car rides (where I am not driving myself!) it’s really nice to take out my laptop and check my email, IM with friends, read some blogs, web comics, etc. I can do that, but I didn’t buy one of those expensive cards that require a $60 per month service. Using hacktherazr.com (which is down at the time of this blog post), I deciphered how to use my Motorola Razr V3m and my Verizon service to get “free” internet on the road. This is “free” (with quotes), because it can be free if I use it wisely. In truth connecting to the Internet through this “back door” costs minutes, just like a regular phone call, but that means that nights and weekends are free. Also, if I have a lot of minutes to spare, which I usually do, it is irrelevant how many minutes I burn as long as I never go over.
The speeds aren’t blazing fast or anything, but it’s just fine for the things I mentioned, especially when the alternative is boredom. I did a speed test on speedtest.net, and came up with these results:
I broke this post up into chunks to organize it and separate the different parts. For example, I know that the first step only works on Razr v3m’s, but if you have a different phone from Verizon you could probably figure out how to do that step elsewhere, and then come back here and continue to the next step, which is likely the same on most Verizon phones.
F.Y.I. I have found that while connected I can receive calls and answer them no problem, but curiously I can not initiate a call.
Enable Dial-up Networking
First, you need to enable the dial up networking service on the phone, which is locked off by Verizon when you get the phone. You can do this by following my tutorial on how to unlock the Razr V3m.
Disable EVDO
Next, you must disable EVDO and enable CDMA. This doesn’t work if the phone is connected to the cell towers with EVDO. You can do this by following my tutorial on how to disable EVDO.
Now that the phone is unlocked and EVDO is disabled, I assume the instructions should be just about the same for a lot of Verizon phones.
Connect the phone to the computer
Now you need to get the phone connected to the computer. I will use Bluetooth in this example, though using a USB cable works just fine.
The first step is go get the phone connected to the computer via Bluetooth. I need to qualify these instructions, though, and say that I am using a weird Bluetooth dongle that has it’s own separate system apart from how it is supposed to be implemented in Vista. That said, the instructions will probably be similar. If my instructions for Bluetooth are no help, try Microsoft’s.
First set the phone as discoverable. On the Razr you can press the down button from the home screen, which brings up a Bluetooth menu. Then go down to Setup, make sure the “Power” is set to “On”, and select “Find Me”.
On the computer side, find the phone through the Bluetooth software and connect to it.
You will probably have to enter a security key, which you can make up yourself. If you aren’t feeling creative and aren’t in a public place, you can use “0000″. You will have to accept the connection on the phone by typing in the security key. Once that’s set up
 
Now that the computer and phone are aquatinted, connect the computer to the phone’s dial-up service.
OK, that’s how it for the Bluetooth. If you want to get to this point with USB, you should be able to find this dial-up dialog by going to the Network and Sharing Center, clicking on “Manage network connections”, and double-clicking on something that looks like it might be the phone.
The rest of the instructions apply even if you connect the phone to the computer through USB.
Put in the right information and change some settings
Now that the dial-up dialog box is open, you need to put in some information and change some settings. The username is your cell phone number @vzw3g.com. So, if your number is (123) 456-7890 then your username would be 1234567890@vzw3g.com. (I have blocked out the phone number part of my username.) The password is “vzw”, and the number to call is #777. Type those three things in, check “save this username and password for the following users”, and click “properties. If you want, select “Anyone who uses this computer”.Â
A new window will open. Click on the “Security” tab.Â
In the “Security” tab, click “Settings”.Â
A new window will open.Â
Uncheck “Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) and “Microsoft CHAP Version 2 (MS-CHAP v2)”. Make sure that “Unencrypted password (PAP)” remains checked.Â
Click on the “Options” tab.
Here’s what the Options tab should look like:
Uncheck everything except for “Display progress while connecting” and click “OK”.
Click “dial” and wait for it to connect.
Now you have internet access. A window will open asking what kind of network connection this is. It shouldn’t matter what you select, but choose Public Location just to be safe.
Close the window.
Make it a little nicer
Now that everything is up and running, the next step is to rename the modem so something nicer, like “Razr Net Access”.
First, click on the network icon in the system tray, and then click on “Network and Sharing Center”
Now that the Network and Sharing Center is open, click “Manage Network Connections”.
A new window will open. Find the network connection that seems like the Razr’s connection, and rename it to whatever you want. You rename it just like you would a file. I tend to do two single-clicks, which has the same effect as right-clicking on it and clicking “Rename”.
Connecting in the future
Chances are that you’ll want to connect to the internet again later. To do that, obviously have your phone connected to the computer. If you’re using Bluetooth, just make sure that the phone is on and somewhere near you. After that, just go to the same place you go to connect to wireless networks. (Click on the network icon in the system tray, and then click “Connect or Disconnect”) You should see this:
Double-click on the “Razr Net Access” item, and you’ll see this
That’s it! To disconnect just go back to that “Connect to a network” window and double-click on the “Razr Net Access” item. For the sake of documentation, the disconnecting screen looks like this:
Like I said, now that everything is all set up, connecting and disconnecting is the same process as connecting or disconnecting to a wireless network. Neat, huh?
Remember:Â Nights and weekends are 100% free. 
Happy surfing!
Internet Anywhere Through My Cell Phone
December 28th, 2007
This image really does represent ultimate sadness for someone (like me) who is addicted to the internet. This icon in the system tray means means that the computer isn’t connected to any network. That means (dare I say it) no internet! I am proud to say, that this icon has no effect on any more. Is this because I’ve kicked the internet habbit? Hell no! I have grown contemptuous of the “no networks” icon, because I can connect my laptop to the internet through my cell phone. It my sound complicated, but the process is actually very straight forward. Here’s what I do:
First, I click on the network icon in the system tray.
Next I click on “Connect to a network”, and I see this window:
Next I click on “Razr Net Access”. and click connect. So I see the next screen.
I wait a few seconds, and that’s it! I have access to internet that, while slow, is still twice as fast as dial-up, and it only costs minutes on my cell phone. The best part is that when calls are free, so is the internet access, meaning “surf’s up” on nights and weekends. Also, while I can not initiate calls, I can still recieve calls normally wile connected.
There. In four clicks I’m connected to the net. How is this possible? Well, it took some initial hacking of my Motorola Razr V3m that I got from Verizon. Some of the steps in setting it up initially can get a little complicated, but since the end result is so elegant (and free) I don’t mind. In a later post I’ll explain how to set this up.
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